Garry Worth
Interviewed by Sean Griffin
Garry Worth was a red diaper baby whose father joined the Labour Progressive Party (a front for the Communist Party) in 1946. Garry was born and raised on Vancouver Island where his father worked in logging. When he finished high school Garry began working in the camp where his father was foreman. After that he worked as a bulldozer operator until he became an apprentice millwright with MacMillan Bloedel at the pulp mill in Port Alberni. He was employed at the Port Alberni Pulp Mill from 1966 to 1971. After that, he was employed by Weyerhaeuser at the Kamloops pulp mill until 2005.
In the interview, Garry describes his work as a millwright and his increasing involvement in his union, the PPWC Local 10 (Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada, later renamed the Public and Private Workers of Canada). He became active in the late seventies; over the years he held the positions of wage delegate, local trustee, and representative to the NEB ( the executive board of the National Union). He served as president of the National Union from 1995 to 2000. In the mid-eighties, he became active in the CCU (Confederation of Canadian Unions) to which PPWC Local 10 was affiliated, serving as CCU president for six years.. Garry has also been an employee representative at the BC Labour Relations Board.
Garry discusses many of the major issues and ideas prevalent during his time with the PPWC. These include:
- Labour relations issues in the mills such as multi trades and flexible work practices.
- The PPWC’s emphasis on rank-and-file democracy and local autonomy.
- The PPWC’s relationship with other Canadian unions, including cooperation during bargaining with large forestry companies.
- Local 10’s decision to join the CEP (Communications, Energy, and Paper Workers Union of Canada) in 2002.
- The PPWC’s role in advocating for forestry policy reforms and environmental protection and his perspective on the challenges facing the forestry industry and its workers over the years.
Keywords
Labour Progressive Party, Communist Party, red diaper baby, IWA (International Woodworkers of America) gyppo logging, Voice of Women, training, International Union of Operating Engineers Local 115 (IUOE 115), MacMillan Bloedel, millwright apprenticeship, International Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite, and Paper Mill Workers (IBPSPMW), Pulp, Paper and Woodworkers of Canada (PPWC), Canadian Paperworkers Union (CPU), Weyerhaeuser, Wyerhaeuser Quality in Action Program (QIA), quality of work life programs, workplace wobbles, strikes, Communications, Energy, and Paper Workers Union of Canada, (CEP), Port Alberni Pulp Mill, Kamloops Pulp Mill, multi trades, trades flexibility, local autonomy, rank and file democracy, Canadian Association of Industrial, Mechanical, and Allied Workers (CAIMAW), Canadian Textile and Chemical Union, Independent Canadian Transit Union (ICTU), Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), forest policy, timber supply, tree farm licenses, raw log exports, old growth timber, breakaways from international unions, pulp and paper mills, joint bargaining, pattern bargaining, Pulp and Paper Industrial Relations Bureau, flexible work practices, 365 day operation, strike pay, Confederation of Canadian Unions (CCU), Canadian Association of Smelter and Allied Workers (CASAW), United Electrical Workers, One Big Union, pork choppers, BC Federation of Labour, BC Labour Relations Board, United Steelworkers of Canada, James Laxer, Nigel Morgan, Orville Braaten, Angus McPhee, Jess Succamore, Madeline Parent, Kent Rowley, Bob White, Mike Harcourt, Colleen McCrory, Vince Ready, John Lang, Jim Sinclair, Raj Chouhan, Stephen Kelleher, Jim Stanford