Our History

The History of the ILA 269

Founding of a permanent longshoremen’s union

The original charter for the ILA 269.

The milestone year for longshoremen on the Halifax waterfront was 1907.  After several attempts to build a strong and sustainable union, tension again came to a head on May 24.  Longshoremen on the docks stopped work, demanding an increase in pay and improved working conditions.

The longshoremen circulated a letter to the seven shipping companies demanding an increase in the day rate (20 cents an hour) and the night rate (25 cents an hour) by a nickel with double time on Sunday.  Two days later, they formed a committee headed by James Martin to meet with the companies.

Despite the urging of the Montreal Longshoremen Union to arbitrate, the longshoremen decided to stick to their demands.  On midnight, May 26, the 600 longshoremen quit their jobs and shut down the piers.

The next day, the shipping companies offered to meet their demands halfway, with a two and a half cent raise.  But the longshoremen refused.  The shipping companies, in an effort to keep the port moving, combined all the in-port crews and unloaded ships one at a time.  On May 31, A.G. Jones and Company granted its men the five-cent increase, and over the next few days, the other companies fell in line and all signed the agreement.

Not only did the work stoppage gain the demanded pay increase, but this time the union movement remained cohesive.  After the wage issue was settled, the Halifax Longshoremen’s Assocation was formed, sank roots and remained as a bargaining unit for the dockworkers.

On July 15, 1913, the HLA received its third charter from the International Longshoremen’s Assocation in New York, officially becoming Local 269 under local president John T. Joy.

Membership was on the rise.  At the time of the 1907 strike, the fledgling HLA had about 500 members.  When it received its ILA charter six years later, membership had grown to 840.

The Hollis Street hiring hall

Men in front of the old Hiring Hall, Hollis St., Halifax, NS.

For nearly the first 40 years of its existence, the Halifax Longshoremen’s Assocation didn’t have a home to hang its hat.  The union held meetings at the Halifax Labour Temple on the corner of Cogswell and Brunswick streets.  The old round building was located near where the Citadel Inn now stands, and was home to plenty of lively debate over the years.  Several of the local unions met at the temple, including the HLA.

But all that changed during the Second World War.  Labour was scarce on the waterfront in the early 1940′s, with so many men in uniform.  In order to develop a stronger and more stable workforce to load and unload the ships, an effort was made to strengthen the union in Halifax.

One of the initiatives was the construction of a permanent hall, to be used both for hiring longshoremen and also to house offices of the executive and an onsite pay office for the companies.

The military laid the bricks and mortar, then sold the structure and land to the Halifax Longshoremen’s Assocation for the princely sum of $1, providing it continue as a hiring hall into perpetuity.   Located on Hollis Street across from the stately Lieutenant Governor’s official residence, the squat one-story building became a second home for many longshoremen.  Three hiring calls a day pulled scores of dockworkers to the downtown hall in the hopes of securing a job.

That was a rough looking building in the ’50s.  You could cut the smoke with a knife.  There were cans (for spitting) and straw on the floor. – Henry O’NeilThe best-known fixtures in the hall were the worn blue benches, where thousands of longshoremen have waited over the years to hear their number called.  For many years, each bench had a long metal ashtray on the back, providing a place for waiting longshoremen to butt their smokes.

In the summer of 2007, the union secured a deal to swap its existing Hollis Street property for space in a new Halkirk development, while still retaining proximity to the waterfront.  As a result, HLA moved its operations into a spacious new facility in the Letson Court development on Morris Street.

Evolving cargo, changing times

Unlike other big gateways on the eastern seaboard, Halifax was never a specialized port.  From the earliest days, it handled all manner of cargo – sugar and grain, lumber and rubber, automobiles and flour.

The variety of cargo meant Halifax longshoremen had to be ready for whatever assignment they received in the morning at the hiring hall.  Before the container era, longshoring demanded a strong back and strong constitution.

Most cargo was moved on bulky hand trucks that weighed almost 200 pounds empty.  With a load aboard, the trucks could weigh more than 600 pounds, balanced on a front wheel that made them very difficult to handle.  Donkey engines were in wide use on the docks by the early 1900s, paired with derricks and winches to hoist cargo aboard or drag it up a sloping gangway and tip it into the hold.

For generations, loose cargo had to be bulled with the most rudimentary of equipment.  Rubber was one of the most difficult to handle.  It came bundled in 250-pound blocks, and in the humid heat of summer, those blocks often got soft and stuck together.  Talcum powder was dusted over the blocks to provide some slippage, but the bales were always dirty and troublesome.

Potatoes came from Prince Edward Island, packed in sacks and stacked on palettes.  The potatoes arrived on the brow either from railcars or on smaller coastal freighters.  It was the longshoremen’s job to load them on the ships for foreign ports.

Twenty-foot boxes: A revolution in technology

In the late 1960s, the industry underwent a colossal shake-up with the introduction of container technology.  In 1969, Dart became Halifax’s first container line, starting service at Pier B.  The next year, halterm officially opened in the south end, becoming the first common-user container facility in Canada.

The arrival of containerization had a dramatic effect on the manpower situation on the waterfront.  The skill-set changed, from manual labour and operation of small machines and winches to mastering the large container-moving equipment including straddle carriers, electro-porter and massive gantry cranes of the container ports. But more dramatically, the labour requirements dropped.  Moving cargo became much more mechanized, requiring fewer men working more regular hours.

According to testimony at a Canadian Labour Relations Board inquiry in 1980, 20 men were required to move one tonne of loose cargo.  At the Halterm container pier, just seven men were able to load 20 tonnes in the same period.

A study to determine the impact of containerization was undertaken in 1972 by the Joint Manpower Adjustment Committee, with representation from the Maritime Employers Assocation, the National Habours Board, the Shipping Federation of Canada, and several waterfront employees unions including the Local 269.

With the upheaval in the industry, longshoremen, management and the port wanted to determine the future labour requirements for the waterfront.  The study estimated both break-bulk cargo and container traffic through the mid-70s.  By calculating the productivity of the workers, the committee was able to project the number of workers required as containerization came into full flow.

The numbers told the story in 1971, a total of 692 regular and casual longshoremen worked the Halifax docks.  All but a handful were over the age of 30, and needed steady employment to meet their family needs.  More than 600 of those longshoremen worked less than 1,500 hours in the year, and 436 earned less than $5,000 a year.

Clearly, there were too many men for too few jobs.

The study estimated that by 1976, a shift in manpower requirements would take place that would require more full-time longshoremen working regular jobs and less need for casual workers.

Some of the “oldtimers” never made the transition to the container pier.  Learning the new, technically demanding skills at the container piers proved too daunting.  They preferred to stay with the familiar break-bulk cargoes or retire from the docks.  But most Local 269 members realized the future was in containers and worked hard to acquire the new skills for operating heavy machinery.  Though the hours were still long, the work was steadier and the earning potential for a career in longshoring was growing with every new collective agreement.

Halifax was setting the pace.  It was one of the first North American ports to utilize on-deck rail transfer.

In 1981, the Fairview Cove Container Facility opened in Bedford Basin, offering two huge berthing sites for container ships.  Despite losing the Dart Line, the port’s largest customer, business continued to grow.  The gigantic Generation III vessels began to call in port.

Benevolent work of Local 269

Halifax’s longshoremen and their families have often known hardships.  The squeeze of seasonal work frequently put pressure on the longshoremen to make ends meet.

As far back as 1908, the HLA established a death benefit fund.  Families of deceased members received $50, whether the death was accidental or from natural causes.  In 1909, two longshoremen were each given $50 by the union when their Localman Street houses burned down.

Over the years, Local 269 has also sought to help out the community – whether the children of ILA members through a college scholarship or the larger community through donations to the IWK Children’s Hospital and the annual Christmas Daddies Telethon.  Each year, the Halifax Longshoremen’s Association offers a $2,500 scholarship to a full or part-time student who is entering or continuing studies at Saint Mary’s University.  The recipient must be a member of Local 269 or a member’s immediate family.

For many years, the local also organized a charity softball tournament to raise funds for families of longshoremen in need.  Every Christmas, the union hosts a party for the children of members of Local 269 at the hiring hall.