Interviewee: John Wilgus
Year: 2005
Location: Calgary
Transcript: Download PDF
Index: Experience with the Bakery, Confectionary and Tobacco Workers International Union, Local 252 – shop steward, president, business agent and international rep, pension trustee; Contract negotiations with Safeway; Contract negotiations with McGavins, Westins and Lucerne plants; 1982 three-day strike by bakery workers at McGavins, Westins and Lucerne plants; 1986 lockout at the MacGavins’ plant in Calgary; 1986 strike by clerks, meat cutters and bakery workers at Safeway in Calgary; Importance of unions today; Union education and shop steward training; Pension plan run jointly by the union and management; Changes in working conditions at the plants and in-store bakeries – modernization, increase in percentage of part-time workers; Differences in union organizing in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; Alberta labour laws being anti-union, pro-employer; Concerns about the Alberta government bringing in right-to-work legislation and privatizing health care
