The Marine Worker VI

7/25/2019 The Marine Worker VI

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The Halifax Regional Munici-pality has approved the Procurementof the Fast Ferry program, providingalternative transport services for theever growing population of HRM. Un-fortunately the HRM Council has cho-sen a competitive bidding processthat fails to recognize the potentialbenefits of the recirculation of munici-pal tax dollars. Now is the time forour Union to push HRM Council toacquire these ferries through a part-nership with the Halifax Shipyard, amajor tax paying employer within theHRM. The Economic benefits to theMunicipality from having these ves-sels built by us would be job creation,thus returning men to work. Who paytaxes and buy goods and servicesright here in the Halifax Municipalityfurther strengthening our economy.This alone far outweighs what littlecost benefit that might be seen bysending them to foreign markets thatare closed to us.

So if HRM Council allows taxdollars to leave never to be seenagain we all: workers, company, localbusinesses and Municipality will lose.Now is the time write letters, call oremail your councilors and let themknow how you feel about this veryimportant issue.

Volume 2, Issue 3

Halifax, September 25, 2006

CAW/MWF LOCAL # 1

Letter from the PresidentB y K a r l R i s s e r J r .

TheMarineWor

ker

Inside this issue:

Labour Day parade 2

Report from the CAW Con-stitutional Convention

3

Retired 2006 4

History 7-8

Calendar 9

Contact us 10

Asbestos 5-6

Obituaries 9

Dear Brothers and Sisters

Summer has come and isalmost gone, I hope you all enjoyedit, summer always goes by fast and

this year was no different for me. Aswe move into fall we need to startthinking about getting a new col-lective agreement with the com-pany. These are important times somake sure your issues are heard byinvesting some time to attendmeetings to express your views.The Union can better reflect ourgoals when we all participate.

C o n t a c t i n g Y o u r

C o u n c i l l o r

You can contact any of the

Halifax Regional Municipality

Councillors through the

Councillors' Support Office.

Hours: 8:30am - 4:30pm

Phone: (902) 490-4050

Mail: P.O. Box 1749

Halifax, N.S. B3J 3A5

Fax: 490-4122

OR

To find out who is your

Councillor and how to reach

her/him directly go to:

http://www.eservices.halifax.ca

/districtLookup/


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Rick Clarke , President of NSFL , giving an interview to

CBC News

The 2006 Labour Day parade By Zibby Kwiatek

P A G E 2V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 3

Darrell Dexter, leader of the provincial NDP

in conversation with Karl Risser Jr.

CAW/MWF Local 1 was there, but we could do

better (Maybe next year?).

Proud to be Union. Bad weather did not stop about

250 of us from celebrating.

Labour Day is celebrated on the first Monday of Septem-ber.

Earliest records show that the Toronto Trades Assemblyorganized the first North American labour demonstrationon April 15, 1872. About 10,000 people showed up tosee the parade and listen to speeches calling for the aboli-tion of the law which decreed that trade unions werecriminal conspiracies in restraint of trade.

The offensive conspiracy laws were repealed by the Ca-nadian government in 1872.

In 1882, the Toronto Trades and Labour Council organ-ized the annual demonstration and picnic, and invitedPeter J McGuire (one of the founders of the AmericanFederation of Labour) as a speaker.

Upon returning to New York he proposed to hold a simi-lar celebration there. Labour Day was first celebrated inNew York on September 5, 1882.

Labour Day was declared a national holiday in 1894 andsince then its been celebrated by trade unionists tohonor those who labour.

In 1999, Lisette Garant - a member of the Carpenters' Un-ion - pulled together a group of union activists and or-ganized a March and Picnic in Halifax, which has beengoing on ever since. The March and Picnic is organizedby a committee, called the Halifax Labour Day Planning

Committee. Membership on the committee is open toany union organization that wants to help to organize.

There is room for more participants so next year we will

be looking for a larger presence from Local 1 member-

ship. Its our holiday lets celebrate it together.


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Report from the 8TH CAW Constitutional Convention By Les Wears


From the left: Les Wear, Karl Risser Jr., Jamie Vaslet

and Frasier Banfield. Vancouver August 2006.

First of all Fraser Banfield and I would liketo thank everyone for their support that en-abled us to accompany Karl and Jamie to theNational Convention which was held inVancouver in August. The experience enlight-ened us to Government interference and inac-

tion regarding the shipbuilding industry, unionsubs, pensions, child care and health care.

The day before the convention actuallykicked off we attended a meeting of the Ship-building, Waterways and Marine WorkersCouncil. Our Local has 3 members on the ex-ecutive of the Council: Karl Risser Jr. - President,Ernie Nordin Jr. - Financial Secretary and JamieVaslet Recording Secretary. Many representa-tives from other locals (Maritimes, Ontario andWest Coast) were present. We are working toincrease the number of the affiliates to theCouncil.The President reported on correspondence withgovernment regarding objections to free-tradetalks with South Korea and a lack of govern-ment support for the shipbuilding industry.West coast delegates reported on work goingoverseas while Canadian yards are being shutout of the bidding process.

The Vice President of the Council: GerardBradbury, (President of the CAW Local 4285from Marine Atlantic, Port Aux Basques,

Newfoundland) report initiated a discussion onproblems associated with new security meas-ures created by changes in marine security, thathave been introduced by Transport Canada.Les Holloway spoke on the shipbuilding policyand reports that Harper doesnt show supportas he is still talking-free trade with South Korea,although the minister of Trade did agree onsome issues. Les also reported that Norway isback at the table with our government, at-tempting to get in on Canadian offshore oil

work.

At the National Convention electionsthat had been scheduled were called offbecause all positions were uncontested andExecutive Members retained their positionsthrough acclamation.There where speeches that talked about Unionshaving trouble with subcontracting.Les Holloway spoke on the shipbuilding policyand negative impact that free-trade was having

on our industry. Representatives of other unionsalso voiced concerns over free-trade problems.Karl Risser Jr. spoke to delegates about signinga petition he had put out seeking support forthe shipbuilding policy.Many auto-workers showed support, statingthat their industry also has trouble competingwith South Korea.Buzz Hargrove spoke on a number of issues:Harpers stance on child-care programs,pensions, health care and tree-trade.

I tried to keep this report focused on is-sues concerning our immediate interests. Thoseinterested with a more thorough report fromthe convention can read about it at:http://caw.ca/news/contactnewsletter/showissue.asp?name=article&IssueID=586&ArticleID=4082#4082


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V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 3

Willis Stanley Mason retired at the age of 63 in May 2006 after 22 yearsof service as an engine fitter.

He grew up in the Head of St. Margaret Bay. Before he came to the Ship-yard he worked on cars for different companies. The longest period withCitadel Motors -18 years.

His experience with diesel engines got him a job with the yard.

Willy retired to Boutliers Point where he spends time outdoors hiking,driving his ATV, camping and fishing.

WSM: I miss you guys, I came to visit you in the yard twice and I was sentaway by security. There was a time when retired employees were re-

spected in the Shipyard but it seems that time is gone.

Alexander Clarence Roberts retired at age 58 on May 10, 2006 after

working with us for 26 years.

Clarence was born and raised in Spryfield. His first job was as a cookin the Flamingo Restaurant in Halifax. He was not satisfied withthis job so he went back to school to learn welding. The vocationalschool was in old the Sugar Refinery in Dartmouth.

He started at the Halifax Shipyard as an apprentice welder in 1968.Through the years he quit the Shipyard three times only to return in

1980 and stay until now.Clarence retired to Middle Musquodoboit were he and his familyhave lived for 34 years. His favorite pastime is taking care of his 21beagles that he trains for competition.

ACR: Thanks guys, at time the job was though but having friendslike you beside me made it bearable.

Joshua Meade retired at the age of 65 on March 10, 2006

after working with us for 31 years as a rigger.

We wish you all the best Josh.

P A G E 4


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In Nova Scotia, Worker's Compensation does notrecognize automatic assumption that is due to expo-

sure to asbestos... In the shipbuilding industry dur-ing the 1960's, '70s and 80's asbestos was a fact oflife that we in the industry came to accept as thenorm. In the early 1950s, '60s and '70s and even the'80s asbestos was a miracle fiber, it was used on allour ships whether they be government or commer-cial. Although most of the ships that we now workon in our yard (Halifax Shipyard.) are 20 to 30 yearsold we have the proper procedures in place forwhen and if we find asbestos on these vessels. Wehave and exercise the right to refuse, close down thejob and assume it is asbestos until it's tested and re-sults come in. If they come in negative we would go

back to work and if they come in positive wouldbring in an asbestos removal company. This allsounds pretty good, unfortunately this is no help tothe members who have now been diagnosed orhave died from the different cancers related to as-bestos and asbestosis over the years.

As Business Agent of the local I have in thelast six months dealt with at least six cases believedto be asbestosis. It is very hard for the doctors to di-agnose this disease as it comes in so many forms, itaffects the lungs the stomach and other major or-gans in the body that were just now learning about

and the worst thing is that there is still no automaticassumption even though the Worker's Compensa-tion board has no doubt that these men were ex-posed to asbestos during the years I mentionedabove. But because there's no automatic assumptionwe need studies performed immediately so thatthese men can be compensated for what is left oftheir life and the lives of their families.

At the then owned government shipyard inMarystown in Newfoundland a study showed thelikelihood of someone working in the industry for aperiod of 10 years or longer that contracting asbes-tos related disease was one in five, the only reason

the study was performed is because the governmentowned the shipyard. In Halifax, the shipyard wasalways privately owned and a study was neverdone. The time has long past and the study must bedone immediately, there is no excuse for the govern-ment to look the other way as this problem will notgo away and the workers should not have to paywith their lives.

This problem of asbestos related diseases isnot confined to our shipyards it also affects all our

Asbestos and automatic assumption in the shipbuilding and shipping industries in Canada.


brothers and sisters who work on commercial ves-sels throughout Canada even though asbestos isnot widely used, it is still in use today. Those broth-ers and sisters working on-board these ships are

also exposed to the same types of diseases as ship-yard workers: as these ships move through the wa-ter, the vibration in the engine rooms make the tillerflats and other parts of the ship that still have asbes-tos in them just as deadly as it is for the shipyardworker who runs across it in a dry dock. These menand women who work on these vessels every dayto try to earn a living for their families don't evenknow the level of exposure they are subject to on adaily basis. And although I speak of automaticassumption in Nova Scotia I also wonder why theCanadian government doesn't act on this serioushealth issue related not just to shipyard workers but

to all workers who work on the vessels that sail inCanadian waters.

The time for talk is over. It is now time forgovernments, provincially and even federally to acton this serious health issue related to our marineindustry. I have personally lost many co-workersand friends to different types of lung cancer, gastro-intestinal cancer and other types of lung disease. Alot were no older than me. When you start workingin your early 20's and then see your friends dying intheir late '40s and early '50s and even early '60s thisis way to young! We can not change what hap-

pened in the past, but we can prevent what willhappen in the future. We need governments inevery province to step up and say "yes" to automaticassumption when you give your life to shipbuildingand shipping industries of this great country.

By Jamie Vaslet

An example of use of the asbestos around the pips.


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I hope that our affiliates of the CAW Ship-building, Waterway and Marine Workers Council willapproach their provincial compensation boards,MLAs and even their members of Parliament on thisvery important issue that affects all of us in our in-dustry. We need to help ourselves because if we

wait for someone to step in and help us we will waitforever. Forever is not a longtime when you're diag-nosed with this dreadful disease.

If you are not affiliated with the Council I sug-gest you become so and make our voice evenstronger to our provincial and federal governmentson this issue; we are only a strong voice when weare many, and we are a weak voice when we arefew. Come join our council, let our voice be heardacross the nation from coast to coast.

This is a Canadian problem and our strongestvoice is within our Union so help us be heard loud

and clear. We here in Nova Scotia are now in theprocess of lobbying our provincial government toact on this problem and suggest all members of ourcouncil present and future do the same in their prov-inces. Hopefully when we achieve this we will beable to go after the federal government and havefederal recognition for automatic assumption to ex-


posure of asbestos. This is the time that we take astand on this and other important issues facing our

industries whether it be in shipbuilding or themany other ships that sail in our Canadian watersits time our voices were heard.

In Solidarity

Jamie Vaslet

An example of use of the asbestos around the beams

And Zen some

Internet/CALM

He, who places head in sand, will get kicked inthe end!

Honk if you love peace and quiet.

Hypochondria is the only disease I haven't got.

I bet you I could stop gambling.

I like kids, but I don't think I could eat a wholeone.

I used to be indecisive, now I'm not so sure.

Why do bankruptcy lawyers expect to be paid? Borrow money from pessimists- they don't ex-

pect it back.

Always try to be modest. And be damn proudof it!

Attempt to get a new car for your spouse- it'llbe a great trade!

Everybody repeat after me..."We are all individu-als."

Chastity is curable, if detected early.

Hell hath no fury like the lawyer of a womanscorned.

Bills travel through the mail at twice the speed

of checks.

Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked intojet engines.

What happens if you get scared half to deathtwice?

The gene pool could use a little chlorine.

Daddy, why doesn't this magnet pick up thisfloppy disk

A conscience is what hurts when all your otherparts feel so good.

An unemployed court jester is no one's fool.

Bigamy: one wife too many. Monogamy: samething.

If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you

done?.

As I said before, I never repeat myself.


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By Zibby Kwiatek

I was unable to finish the research on next chronological segmentof our history, so it will have to be published in the next issue.For this issue I decided to present to you a story close to myheart. It is a story of a ship that I heard a lot about while growing

up in Poland. When I stumbled upon its picture in one of the con-ference rooms in the offices of Halifax Shipyard, it was like bump-ing into an old friend on the other side of the world.

During World War II Halifax Shipyard repaired more then 7,000,ships this is a story of one of them. I hope you enjoy it.

M/S BATORY a story of the ship

By Peter Wieslaw Grajda

The Polish Transatlantic Shipping Company was founded in1930, to establish Poland on the North Atlantic. It was trans-formed into Gdynia-America Line (GAL) shortly there after.

GAL soon realized that bigger, newer ships were needed for theirgrowing business, but their growth potential was limited withoutsufficient cash reserves.

History of Halifax Shipyard and Local 1 By Zibby Kwiatek


A novel solution developed: Poland gave Italy five years worth ofcoal shipments in return for two 14,000-ton passenger ships,which became the M/S BATORYand M/S PILSUDSKI.

They were twin-stackers built in Cantieri Riuniti del' AdriaticoShipyard, Triest-Monfalcone (Italy): 526 feet long and could sail

at 18 knots. Accommodation was for 796 in three classes andcrew of 350. The PILSUDSKI was finished first in the summer of1935, with the BATORY following in spring of 1936.

Although both vessels were built in a foreign yard and with aforeign design, the furnishings and interior decoration of theaccommodation for both were designed and produced by Polisharchitects and artists, so as to emphasize the Polish character ofthe vessels and to act as link between the Polish immigrants in

America and their native country.

ThePILSUDSKImade her first transatlantic voyage fromGdynia-New York, under the command of legendary captainMamert Stankiewicz on Sep 15/ 1935. The trip was smooth,weather was great and the welcome in New York was enthusias-

tic. New York's port-pilots admitted that even the M/S NOR-MANDIE, which came to New York for the first time a couple ofmonths earlier, didn't receive near as wonderful a welcome.


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Source info:

Peter Wieslaw Grajdas web site contains more info about

Polish ocean liners :

http://stefanbatoryoceanliner.homestead.com/

-- Picture from the collection of the Halifax Shipyard.

The second voyage from Gdynia to New York wasn't so nicedue to rough seas.

The damages associated with this voyage indicated necessarydesign changes that were required on the M/S BATORY, whichwas still under constriction in Italy.

Each return trip from Gdynia-New York took about three andhalf weeks. During the pre-war period, each year there were

about ten trans-Atlantic trips, with additional cruises to the Nor-wegian fjords in the summer and the Caribbean during theChristmas, New Year time. There was always an almost fullcomplement of passengers on both ships.

Both, theBATORYand PILSUDSKIwere gaining popularityamong foreign passengers, largely due to the excellent serviceand Polish cuisine. The British often called theBATORY, thelittle QUEEN ELIZABETHbecause of some similarity of theirsilhouettes.

When WW II broke out and Poland fell to the Germans in Sep-tember 1939, the PILSUDSKI andBATORYwith their Polishcrews were commandeered by the British for military use.

Two months later thePILSUDSKIwas destroyed by Germanmines. The two magnetic mines exploded just under her hull at4:36 am on Nov 25/1939. The ship took four hours to sink. Theentire crew was rescued except for one of the mechanics andCaptain Mamert Stankiewicz.

M/S BATORY survived the war years (1939-45) being knownas a "Lucky Ship" due to her wartime successes. She took partin many invasions and evacuations. Also, two very special voy-ages in military convoys need to be mentioned - both undercommand of captain Zygmunt Deyczakowski.

The first was in July 1940 (Greenock Navy Base, England -Halifax, Canada) when theBATORYwas carrying a small frac-tion of Poland's art treasures to safety in Canada. The consign-ment included Szczerbiec, the 1320 Polish Coronation sword,a Gutenberg Bible, 136 huge tapestries which had been com-missioned by King Sigmund II Augustus in the 16th century(from the collection of the Wawel Castle in Krakow), 36 Chopinmanuscripts. Also, the ship was carrying several hundreds ofmillions of dollars worth of gold bars - reserves of the Bank ofEngland which were being sent to the Bank of Canada. It wasprobably the richest treasure afloat - ever. Her Majesty's RoyalNavy provided a convoy of heavily armed escorts - a battleshipand assorted destroyers and cruisers. As the convoy nearedNewfoundland, Canadian waters fighter planes and bombersflew overhead air cover. The BATORYdocked in Halifax July13, 1940. The treasures filled two rail cars and they were sentoff to Ottawa for safekeeping. Another Polish ship M/SSOBI-ESKI

also sailed in that convoy.

The second very special trip was in fall of 1940, it was a voyagefrom Liverpool, England to Australia. TheBATORYhad on


board British troops for transport to Singapore and also 480British children being evacuated to Australia. Initially the chil-dren were only to be taken to Cape Town, South Africa, but thebonds of friendship which had grown between the English,Welsh and Scottish children and the Polish crew influenced theBritish Admiralty to change its decision. As a result, theBATORYcarried the British children to the Australian ports ofFremantle, Melbourne, and Sydney, traveling over 20,000 miles

in 72 days. This voyage went down in history as that of the"SINGING SHIP". Three books have since been written about itby those in charge of the children. The attitude of the Polishcrew during that voyage has gained them not only the gratitudeof those evacuated, but also enthusiastic praise from both Aus-tralian and British authorities.

After WW II, theBATORYreturned to the transatlantic tradefollowing a refit in Antwerp, Belgium in 1947. Beginning in May1949 and lasting through January 1951, theBATORYof thePolish Ocean Lines (POL) was the subject of a series of politi-cal incidents relating to the Cold War years (late 40s and 50s).The most serious was the accusation of smuggling an atomicbomb to USA, and another that an alleged spy had escaped

from New York aboard her. The situation climaxed when Ameri-can port workers and repairmen refused to handle the ship.

TheBATORYhad to be withdrawn and was rerouted on a newservice from Poland to India and Pakistan via the Suez Canal.The ships hull was repainted from black, to light grey at thattime.

She returned to the North Atlantic, sailing to Montreal instead ofNew York in 1957.

At the end of her service theBATORY was given a very movingfarewell on Feb 20/1969 at Tilbury (London, England) whichwas organized by the British participants in the "Australian voy-age of evacuee children". Even the British press had to admitthat the Polish ship received such farewell that not even thefamous British QUEENSreceived.

During her many years of service, theBATORY carried out 222return trips across the oceans, first on the New York run, laterthe India Line and finally the Canadian Line, carrying over270,000 passengers altogether. She also did about 75 cruises,tourist trips; transportation of children to Poland for summerholidays over, 30,000 persons took part in these. During herwartime service of over six years, she carried about 120,000soldiers. She visited about 150 ports in all parts of the globe.

The BATORY was so successful on the Poland-Canada run,that construction of a new liner was considered. However in theend used tonnage proved more practical, and POL purchased

the 16,000-tonTS/S MAASDAM

from Holland America Line in1969, renaming her TS/SSTEFANBATORY.

The old M/S BATORYretired in 1968, served as a floating ho-tel-restaurant-museum in Gdynia for two years, but showing adeficit in this new role, she was sold for $ 570,000 to shipbreaker yard in Hong Kong in 1971. In her last voyage to HongKong, M/S BATORYsailed under command of CaptainKrzysztof Meissner.


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December 2006

P A G E 9

Events and Holidays

OCTOBER

October 9 - Thanksgiving Day.

October 10 - General Membership meeting.

NOVEMBER

November 11 - Remembrance Day.

November 14 - General Membership meeting.

November 25 - Christmas Dance at the Forum.

Annual Retirees Dinnerdate to be announced.

DECEMBER

Kids Christmas Party date to be announced.

December 12 - General Membership meeting.

V O L U M E 2 , I S S U E 3

CONDOLENCES

Our condolences are extended to the families of our Brothers who passed away recently :

James M. McGough age 71, retired machinist. Passed away on May 5, 2006.

Ross Lucas age 55, welder on LTD since 1994. Passed away on June 5, 2006.

William Mason age 88, retired, 47 years of service. Passed away on June 6,

2006.

Norman Barry age 71, retired electrician. Passed away on June 12, 2006.

Charles A. Bates age 67, retired welder. Passed away on July 3, 2006.

Russell Whitman age 65, retired engine fitter, 16 years of service. Passed

away on August 1, 2006.

Robert Ramey age 71, retired burner. Passed away on august 20, 2006.

Douglas M. George age 69, retired welder. Passed away on September 6, 2006.

Clarence W. Billard age 88, retired stage builder. Passed away on September 18, 2006.


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THE M RINE WORKER is an official publication of the

CAW/MWF Local # 1.

Members are encouraged to express their views on topics which have been

addressed in THE M RINE WORKER and rise other issues for discussion.

Any opinions or views published in THE M RINE WORKER are those of the

contributors and are not necessarily the opinions or views of CAW/MWFLocal 1, the CAW or the Editor and neither CAW/MWF Local 1, the CAW nor

the Editor accept responsibility for them.

Edited by

Zibby Kwiatek , Scott Isenor and Chrisanna Doyle

Contact address above or Zibby directly at:

zibby@ns sympatico ca

Deadline for the next issue Friday, December 1, 2006.

Negotiations 2006

CAW Marine Workers Federation Local #1 represents approximately

1,000 workers in the Halifax Shipyard and the following units:

Offshore Services - offshore projects, operating from the Woodside

Wharf in Dartmouth,

Office Staff - the Halifax Shipyard office staff.

ABCO Industries - Lunenburg manufacturers of the welded aluminumboats.

Maritime Steel - Dartmouth steel fabricators.

63 Otter Lake CourtHalifax N.S.

B3S 1M1

Phone:(902) 4921700Fax: (902) 4500088

E-mail:: [email protected]

Solidarity Forever !

CAW/MWF LOCAL # 1

We are on the web

www.cawlocal.ca/CAWMWF/

The Marine Worker VI

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