Was occupational health and safety a strike issue? Workers, unions and the body in twentieth-century Scotland

Arthur McIvor

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Abstract

In February 1949, 5,000 or so asbestos miners downed tools and went on strike in a dispute which centred on excessively dusty working conditions which were considered inimical to the health of those breathing this toxic mineral into their lungs. This occurred in the mining town called Asbestos in Quebec, Canada, where Irish migrants were amongst the strike’s participants. The Catholic Church was drawn into the conflict, with the nearby Archbishop of Montreal supporting the strikers and organising fund-raising which quickly accumulated over $500,000. After a long, bitter and violent five-month struggle the strike was defeated and the men returned to working in the dust. Two decades or so later, in the 1970s, the legacy was evident in uncontroversial medical evidence of spikes in asbestos-related disease deaths amongst Canadian asbestos miners. This episode is revealing because it appears to be such a rare occurrence: a workers’ strike explicitly over occupational health where a substantial number of employees were responding directly to the threat towards their bodies of the labour process, the work environment and the materials on which they worked.
LanguageEnglish
Pages5-33
Number of pages29
JournalJournal of Irish and Scottish Studies
Volume8
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Fingerprint

Occupational Safety
Asbestos
Workers
Occupational Health
Scotland
Occupational safety and health
20th century
Canada
Employees
Fund Raising
Threat
1970s
Work Environment
Health
Labor
Quebec
Migrants
Organizing
Minerals
Montreal

Keywords

  • occupational health and safety
  • strikes
  • Scotland
  • twentieth century
  • financial compensation
  • acceptable level of risk
  • coal mining

Cite this

McIvor, Arthur. / Was occupational health and safety a strike issue? Workers, unions and the body in twentieth-century Scotland. In: Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies. 2017 ; Vol. 8, No. 2. pp. 5-33.
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McIvor, A 2017, 'Was occupational health and safety a strike issue? Workers, unions and the body in twentieth-century Scotland' Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 5-33.

Was occupational health and safety a strike issue? Workers, unions and the body in twentieth-century Scotland. / McIvor, Arthur.

In: Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2017, p. 5-33.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

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McIvor A. Was occupational health and safety a strike issue? Workers, unions and the body in twentieth-century Scotland. Journal of Irish and Scottish Studies. 2017;8(2):5-33.

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