"They Didn't Starve Us Out": Industrial Cape Breton in the 1920s
For 200 years, coal mining had been a way of life in Cape Breton. By 1920 things were looking up: miners were unionized and paid decent wages. Then the British Empire Steel Corporation arrived and bought every single steel and coal company in Nova Scotia. BESCO cut wages by a third, setting off a bitter labour dispute. The miners settled in for a long strike. Finally, in 1925, the military ended the unrest with brute force. But the miners, in one sense, had won. They broke up the monopoly and provided an example to workers across the country.
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For 200 years, coal mining had been a way of life in Cape Breton. By 1920 things were looking up: miners were unionized and paid decent wages. Then the British Empire Steel Corporation arrived and bought every single steel and coal company in Nova Scotia. BESCO cut wages by a third, setting off a bitter labour dispute. The miners settled in for a long strike. Finally, in 1925, the military ended the unrest with brute force. But the miners, in one sense, had won. They broke up the monopoly and provided an example to workers across the country.
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directorPatricia Kipping
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producerFloyd ElliottKeith Packwood
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scriptPatricia Kipping
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sound editingPatricia Kipping
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narratorLulu Keating
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musicRonald MacEachern
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re-recordingRoger Lamoureux
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executive producerDouglas MacDonaldFloyd Elliott
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animation cameraRaymond DumasPierre LandryLynda Pelley
Describe the working conditions in the coal mines of the 1920s. Why did the workers strike and then riot? What event led to the death of William Davis? How did the rest of Nova Scotia support the miners? How did the mine workers change the labour movement in Canada? Discuss the opening statement that owners and managers of the mines cared more about profits than people. Compare Canadian working conditions today to those of the 1920s miner in Cape Breton.
