General Assembly 1999 in Winnipeg
By Eugene Plawiuk
Winnipeg, Manitoba–This was the first General Assembly of ‘Wobblies’ ever held outside of the Continental United States. And it was held on the 80th Anniversary of the 1919 General Strikes, in the city which had been the flash point for the General Strikes of May-June of that year that spread across Western Canada. It was this General Strike that led to the birth of the One Big Union (OBU), a Canadian Industrial Union not unlike its predecessor the IWW.
The Assembly was held on the Labour Day long weekend, and was one of the longest ever held, beginning Friday afternoon and ending Monday afternoon with a tour of the historic General Strike sites in Winnipeg.
Saturday morning Wobblies joined locked out Manitoba Telephone System Workers, who had been out since June. MTS had been privatized in 1996, and this was a clear attempt to bust the union of operators and support staff. The MTS settled with the workers that weekend, proving that Solidarity, Struggle and Direct Action get the goods.
Seventy delegates were registered which is ten percent of the 700 paid up members. For the first time many of those delegates came from Canada, almost forty. Ten delegates from Victoria, nine from Edmonton, six from Calgary, two from Toronto, and the remainder from Winnipeg. Thanks to the Winnipeg Branch for all their work in hosting this GA, it was great.
Delegates passed a resolution calling for a campaign for a Thirty Hour Work Week, while still maintaining our traditional demand for the four hour day.
A Resolution was passed to endorse direct action against the World Trade Organization (WTO), including support for labour action, when it meets in Seattle, November 29 to December 3.
Click here for pictures from the Assembly (these are large jpgs and may be slow to load), which was held at the Workers Resource Center, which is a store front organizing centre, developed by the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) in Winnipeg.
As time permits we will be posting reports on the GA. Included here is the Edmonton Branch position paper,on building the IWW in Canada, as well as stories on the Edmonton Branch.
Also below we have reproduced FW Mark Leier’s commentary that appeared in the National Post newspaper Labour Day.