Labour History PSA

The Labour History Provincial Specialist Association (PSA) of the BC Teachers’ Federation was formed in 1976. The motivator and founding president was Frank Fuller, a teacher on the Sunshine Coast. Initial funding came from membership fees as well as grants from the BCTF and the Law in the Schools Project.

The original grant money was used to produce two slide shows: “Strike” and “These Were The Reasons” both with accompanying manuals for use by teachers.

Later, the Labour History PSA produced “For Twenty Cents a Day” in 16 mm format. A teaching manual was subsequently produced for use with this film.

The Labour History PSA journals were published from March, 1977 to early 1982, 10 issues in all. They included numerous articles on labour history as well as lesson ideas for use by teachers in their classrooms. They are a valuable source of labour history in British Columbia.

Denis Ottewell, an elementary teacher in Vancouver, was the other person to be president of the Labour History PSA . In 1983, the Labour History PSA ceased to exist and turned over its current assets to the BC Social Studies Teachers’ Association. These materials were digitized by the BC Teachers’ Federation in 2019.

10 Labour Myths

A teaching manual – Strike slide sound program 1977

A teaching manual – These were the reasons slide sound program 1977

March 1977 newsletter (featuring the I.W.A.)

Fall 1977 newsletter (The Fishery)

Winter 1977-78 newsletter (BC Mining)

June 1978 newsletter (Mini-newsletter, Second Narrows Bridge)

Fall 1978 newsletter (The Great Depression, 1929-39)

November 1978 newsletter (Child labour)

Spring 1979 newsletter (Labour in the Public Sector)

April 1979 newsletter (Post Office Sit-down strike 1938)

Winter 1979-80 newsletter (The I.W.A., Logger’s Navy, Blubber Bay)