More than 50 people gathered at the Miners Memorial in Stellarton (local news story)
by John Brannen, The New Glasgow News. June 11, 2013.
Link.
June 11th continues to be observed as a memorial day to commemorate William Davis's shooting by coal company police during the 1925 New Waterford march to the power plant to restore utilities that had been shut off by BESCO. This short article reports on the the continued observation of the day in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, in spite of the fact that there are no coal mines still operating in Cape Breton. The reporter interviewed a local man whose father worked in the mines in the 1950s, and was working the night of a deadly explosion. Luckily his father survived, but he had scars of the traumatic event for the rest of his life. The reporter asserts that the day is a "time to remember and honour all miners killed on the job in the province." Interestingly, Davis was not killed while working, but while protesting against his employer. This local news story demonstrates that contemporary Cape Bretoners interpret the memorial day as a time to remember the risks of mining and to remind people of the importance of work place security. To some degree, this suggests that for some the labour politics have been effaced from this memorial day celebration, leaving me to ponder the longterm legacy of the 1920s strikes. It seems as though the notion of the struggle the workers experienced to fight for their wages and their union rights is beginning to fade from public memory.
Link.
June 11th continues to be observed as a memorial day to commemorate William Davis's shooting by coal company police during the 1925 New Waterford march to the power plant to restore utilities that had been shut off by BESCO. This short article reports on the the continued observation of the day in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, in spite of the fact that there are no coal mines still operating in Cape Breton. The reporter interviewed a local man whose father worked in the mines in the 1950s, and was working the night of a deadly explosion. Luckily his father survived, but he had scars of the traumatic event for the rest of his life. The reporter asserts that the day is a "time to remember and honour all miners killed on the job in the province." Interestingly, Davis was not killed while working, but while protesting against his employer. This local news story demonstrates that contemporary Cape Bretoners interpret the memorial day as a time to remember the risks of mining and to remind people of the importance of work place security. To some degree, this suggests that for some the labour politics have been effaced from this memorial day celebration, leaving me to ponder the longterm legacy of the 1920s strikes. It seems as though the notion of the struggle the workers experienced to fight for their wages and their union rights is beginning to fade from public memory.