Episode 7: Bea Zucco's Fight for Silicosis Compensation

04/07/21 • 21 min

April 28th marks Canada's annual Day of Mourning. Of course, industrial accidents are not the only risk workers face; occupational diseases, brought on by hazardous workplace conditions, have also claimed a terrible toll. One of the worst has been silicosis, a coating of the lungs by deadly silica dust inhaled by generations of hard-rock miners. To mark this month's Day of Mourning, we bring you the story of Bea Zucco: a third generation pioneer from Grand Forks, BC and a miner's wife. Ordinary in so many ways, and yet absolutely extraordinary in her determination to see justice prevail and secure a WCB pension for her silicosis-stricken husband. This is her story.
Learn more: labourheritagecentre.ca/zucco
FEATURED MUSIC:
Theme song: "Hold the Fort" - Arranged & Performed by Tom Hawken & his band, 1992. Part of the "On to Ottawa" film produced by Sara Diamond.
"Silicosis is Killin' Me" - First recorded by Pinewood Tom, a pseudonym for Joshua White, February 26, 1936, on Conqueror #8673.
"Cold, Cold Heart" - Written and performed by Hank Williams.
INTERVIEWS:
Clips of Bea Zucco are from a recording conducted by Les Johnson on behalf of the Boundary Historical Society. It was one of a series of "Living Books" events that took place early in 2013, hosted by gallery 2, the art gallery in Grand Forks BC.
VOICEOVERS:
"1950's Bea" - Lucie MacNeil
"WCB/journalist" - John Mabbott
RESEARCH:
Research and script for this episode by Patricia Wejr and Rod Mickleburgh.

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Follow us https://www.facebook.com/LabourHistoryInBC/
Browse https://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/
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Previous Episode

Episode 6: AUCE Achieves Full Maternity Benefits, 1974

In 1974, years before other Canadian unions won maternity leave benefits in collective agreements, the Association of University & College Employees (AUCE) Local 1 at the University of BC (UBC) made history. In its first collective agreement, UBC clerical and library workers achieved contract language that provided fully funded maternity leave for its members. It was a breakthrough not just for workers at UBC, but for families across the country. This is their story.
Guest host Bailey Garden (BC Labour Heritage Centre) tells the tale of this independent, feminist union in honor of Women's History Month.
Learn more: labourheritagecentre.ca/AUCE
FEATURED MUSIC:
Theme song: "Hold the Fort" - Arranged & Performed by Tom Hawken & his band, 1992. Part of the "On to Ottawa" film produced by Sara Diamond.
"Union Maid" and "Bread and Roses" featured in clips from "A Union for Working Women at UBC - AUCE 1" video, produced by Julius Fisher, Working TV. 2018.
INTERVIEWS
Janet Judd, postal worker - Sara Diamond interview, 1979. Sara Diamond fonds, Women's Labour History Project. Archival clip used with permission of the Crista Dahl Media Library & Archives. Available online for research and reference: http://www.vivomediaarts.com/archive/janet-judd
Interviews with AUCE 1 members, in order of appearance:
Sussanne Lester; Jackie Ainsworth; Ian Mackenzie; Emerald Murphy; Jean Rands.
Interviews conducted by Karen Ranalletta on behalf of CUPE 2950. Clips from "A Union for Working Women at UBC - AUCE 1" video, produced by Julius Fisher, Working TV. 2018. Used with permission of CUPE Local 2950.
RESEARCH:
Research and script for this episode by Bailey Garden.
Honorée Newcombe, “Coming Up from Down Under: A Hopeful History of AUCE,” in AUCE & TSSU Memoirs of a Feminist Union, 1972–1993 (Burnaby, BC: Teaching Support Staff Union Publishing, 1994).
“Kinesis.” Vancouver: Vancouver Status of Women. April 1977 and April/May 1979.
Association of University and College Employees (AUCE) fonds. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections, Vancouver, Canada.
Working TV, A union for working women at UBC - AUCE 1, filmed 2019, https://vimeo.com/336116722, 16:09.
"Maternity & parental benefits". Canadian Labour Congress. No date. Article retrieved online: https://canadianlabour.ca/who-we-are/history/maternity-parental-benefits/
"Women's History in the Postal Unions". Canadian Union of Postal Workers, March 21, 2001. Article retrieved online: https://www.cupw.ca/en/campaign/resources/womens-history-postal-unions
BACKGROUND MUSIC:
"Funky Fortune" - Ketsa
"Over the Sea" - Lobo Loco
"Thirds" - Crowander

Follow us https://www.facebook.com/LabourHistoryInBC/
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Next Episode

Episode 8: Uniting Woodworkers Across Ethnic Divides

May is Asian Heritage Month; last month was Sikh Heritage Month. Both groups are justly celebrated for their contributions to the fabric of BC. At the same time, they also suffered many years of exploitation and discrimination, much of it in the workplace. For many reasons, including the racist policies of many unions, they were very hard to organize - but one union, the International Woodworkers of America (IWA), met the challenge head-on. This is the story of three remarkable Asian organizers - Roy Mah, Darshan Singh Sangha and Joe Miyazawa - specifically hired by the IWA in the midst of World War Two to break down racial barriers and bring woodworkers of all races into the union.
Learn more: https://www.labourheritagecentre.ca/ethnicdivides/
FEATURED MUSIC: Theme song: "Hold the Fort" - Arranged & Performed by Tom Hawken & his band, 1992. Part of the "On to Ottawa" film produced by Sara Diamond.
"The Greenhorn Song" & "Way Up the Ucletaw" performed by Jon Bartlett/Rika Ruebsaat from The Young Man in Canada (2008) From the singing of Ed Dalby, Campbell River, 1959, with the first stanza by Phil Thomas. Ucletaw is the Yuculta Rapids, up the coast from Vancouver. Loggers supplied their own blankets. Pitchbacks are Douglas fir, so called because the bottom of the tree collects pitch. The early loggers stood on springboards, often several meters above the ground, so they could chop above the pitch. The song is preceded by the sounds of a two-man saw at work and shouts of timber! and down the hill! drawn from Robert Swanson's aural archives. More information can be found below or at www.jonandrika.org
"The Greenchain Song" from Now It's Called Princeton (2008) performed by Rika Ruebsaat.
INTERVIEWS: Clips from Roy Mah interview by Paul Yee, Feb. 26, 1987. City of Vancouver Archives AM1523-S3-: 2008-010.4287
Clip in Punjabi of Darshan Singh Sangha interview by Dr. Hari Sharma, March 11 ,1985. Part of The Indo-Canadian Oral History Collection, Simon Fraser University Archives. F-77-1-0-0-0-18
Clips of interviews with Harinder Mahil & Dilbagh Johal. Part of a series of Co-op radio reel-to-reel tapes, produced by the Boag Foundation, donated to the BC Labour Heritage Centre in 2019 by Allen Seager.
Clips from Joe Miyazawa interview conducted by the National Nikkei Museum & Heritage Centre, 1994. Part of the Japanese Canadian Oral History Collection, Simon Fraser University Archives. 1994.80.10 (PART 1)
RESEARCH: Research and script for this episode by Bailey Garden & Rod Mickleburgh.
Andrew Neufeld and Andrew Parnaby. (2000). The IWA in Canada : the life and times of an industrial union. Vancouver : IWA Canada/New Star Books.
Harjit Daudharia, ed. (2004). Darshan. Darshan Singh Sangha ‘Canadian’ Heritage Foundation.
Rod Mickleburgh. (2018) On the Line: A History of the BC Labour Movement. BC Labour Heritage Society, Harbour Publishing.
“Interview with Harold Pritchett, Founding President of the International Woodworkers of America” by John Mountain, Digging into History, 2.8 (August, 2020)

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On the Line: Stories of BC Workers - Episode 7: Bea Zucco's Fight for Silicosis Compensation

Transcript

Rod Mickleburgh [00:00:31] Welcome to another edition of On the Line, a monthly podcast designed to shed light on British Columbia's rich labour history. I'm your host, Rod Mickleburgh. Later this month, April 28th, to be exact, is Canada's annual day of mourning, a day set aside to remember that tens of thousands of Canadians who have died over the years on the job. They went to work and they didn't come home. Of course, industrial accidents are not the only risk that workers