Year: 2005
Location: High River
Profile: May Fingler was born in rural Saskatchewan and raised in Manitoba. In 1943 Fingler began working at the Swift meatpacking plant in Saint Boniface, Manitoba, one of Canada’s “big three” meatpacking companies alongside Canada Packers and Burns Foods. Fingler served as the local secretary of the plant’s union, United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA) Local 219, an affiliate of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
In 1947, Fingler joined thousands of her fellow UPWA members in a nationwide illegal strike aimed at achieving sectoral bargaining and master collective agreements in the meatpacking industry. The strike was successful and won standardized wages and working conditions for meatpackers across Canada. The demands of national bargaining led to the creation of a joint board of packinghouse locals. Fingler served as the joint board’s secretary in Winnipeg from 1947 to 1955.
As the meatpacking industry moved westwards and concentrated in Alberta, Fingler moved to Calgary to serve as secretary to the UPWA’s Western Director in the region, Norm Richards. While working for the UPWA in Calgary, Fingler assisted the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) with their office operations, and organized office workers into the Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).
Keywords: 1947 Meatpacking Strike; Burns Foods; Canada Packers; Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO); Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF); Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU); Sectoral bargaining; Swift Meatpacking; United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA).
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See also: Meatpacking Workers in Alberta; United Food and Commercial Workers [UFCW]; Women and Work in Alberta