The Asbestos Strike of 1949, based in and around Asbestos, Quebec, Canada, was a four-month labour dispute that marked the separation of church and state in Quebec and created a strong bond for three Canadian men who would later work in Canadian Liberal governments.

Events

At midnight on February 14, 1949, miners walked off the job at four asbestos mines in the Eastern Townships, near Asbestos, Quebec. The union had several demands. These included elimination of asbestos dust inside and outside of the mill; a fifteen cent an hour general wage increase; a five cent an hour increase for night work; a social security fund to be administered by the union; the implementation of the Rand Formula; and "double time" payment for work on Sundays and holidays. At the time, these demands were radical in Quebec.

The strike was illegal. To keep the mines open, owners hired strikebreakers . The 5000 strikers fought back, prompting the mine owners to summon squads of police. The striking miners and police fought on the picket line and hundreds of miners were arrested before the dispute ended in June, four months after the strike began.

Some of the incidents:

• On March 14, a dynamite explosion destroyed part of a railroad track that led into the Johns-Manville Corporation Canadian subsidiary property.
• On March 16, strikers overturned a company jeep, injuring a passenger.
• On March 18, a company official was abducted from his home and severely beaten.

Significance

One of the most bitter labour disputes in Quebec and Canadian history, the Asbestos Strike is often called, "the first shot of the Quiet Revolution." The strike in large part was led by Jean Marchand, a labour unionist. Journalist Gérard Pelletier and future Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then a journalist, also played significant roles. Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau were known later in their political careers as the "three wise men" (les trois colombes).

Strikers had the support of Canadian unions and the Catholic Church in Quebec. The Catholic Church, which had until this time been largely supportive of the Union Nationale government of Maurice Duplessis, profoundly affected the strike. Premier Maurice Duplessis asked the church to transfer Montreal's archbishop, Joseph Charbonneau , to Vancouver because he encouraged the strike. The church refused, signalling a dramatic change in Quebec society.

Popular opinion for most of the strike was broadly supportive of the striking workers. This support, beyond its moral value, manifested itself through monetary support and the supply of provisions. It is likely that the strike would have quickly failed had it not been for the establishment of this kind of support

When the dispute ended, miners received a small pay increase, but many never regained their jobs. However, the separation of church and state marked a major change in Quebec society, setting the stage for the Quiet Revolution.

In 2004, a French-language book about the strike by author/historian Esther Delisle and Pierre K. Malouf was published under the title Le Quatuor d'Asbestos .

External links

• Canadian Encyclopedia
• Marianapolis College's 150-page collection of Asbestos Strike documents