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Archival description
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Local 213 (Vancouver, B.C.)
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Alfie Huston papers

The subseries contains materials collected by Alfie Huston, who served as the President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 from 1985-1988. Materials include correspondence, newspaper clippings, convention reports, minutes, affidavits, court orders, settlement agreements, campaign materials, business office reports, newsletters, financial reports, discussion papers, safety bulletins, organizing committee resolutions, telegrams and membership lists.

Art O'Keeffe papers

The subseries contains materials collected by Art O’Keeffe, former business manager of the IBEW Local 213, including correspondence and legal documentation regarding his suspension from the union following the Lenkurt strike in 1966. Also contains newspaper clippings and court case summaries, some of which may have been added later by Ian McDonald.

O’Keeffe, Art, b. 1918

Barry Sharbo papers

The subseries contains newspaper clippings, pamphlets, official correspondence, bulletins and other ephemera collected by Barry Sharbo, who was the spokesperson for the breakaway movement from IBEW Local 213 in 1967 which would eventually become the Canadian Union of Electrical Workers (CEW/CEWU/UE). Also contains a copy of the CEW's constitution and a proof copy of the first issue of Live Wire, the CEW's newspaper.

Business Manager Reports (1964-1966)

File contains five Business Manager's newsletters for Local IBEW 213, while Art O'Keeffe was business manager and financial secretary. Issues include June 1964, June 1965, September 1965, December 1965 & March 1966.

[Collected IBEW Local 213 materials, 1949-1959]

File contains affidavits, telegrams, letters and other correspondence related to political matters within IBEW Local 213 during the 1950s, including the gathering of testimony against George Gee and Alex Dorland, and IBEW representative Jack Ross reporting back to IBEW International secretary J. Scott Milne about "a good Local going bad."

Collected papers

The series contains materials belonging to Ian McDonald’s father, Leslie (Les) McDonald, and other figures involved in IBEW Local 213. Materials relate predominantly to the activities of IBEW Local 213, though some papers also relate to Les McDonald’s involvement in various sports and community organizations, his writings and his personal correspondence.

Materials within the series include notebooks, postcards, letters, newsletters, newspaper articles and issues, legal documents and photographs. Relative to the ‘Thesis Research’ series, many more materials are original or copies made at the time the originals were created.

E. Tilford Fenton fonds

  • RBSC-ARC-1652
  • Fonds
  • [between 1906 and 1915], predominant 1912-1915

Fonds consists of records reflecting Fenton’s activities as the president of the Local 213 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in B.C. and the Executive Board representative of the First District of the Pacific District Council of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, spanning approximately from 1912 to 1913. These records are arranged in chronological order. Textual records in the fonds primarily consist of incoming correspondence from the U.S. to E.Tilford Fenton as the president of the I.B.E.W. in B.C., general circulars and reports from Pacific District Council, and administrative documents of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Personal correspondence of E. Tilford Fenton spans primarily from 1914 to 1915. These records are also arranged in chronological order. The fonds is arranged into the following four series: office correspondence; general circulars; administrative documents; and personal correspondence.

Fenton, E. Tilford

George Gee fonds

  • RBSC-ARC-1210
  • Fonds
  • 1940-2013.

The fonds consists of correspondence, financial records, legal documents, subject files, surveillance files, and printed material relating mainly to the union activities of George Gee as a business agent for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Vancouver Local 213, his expulsion from the union by an international representative of the union, and his attempts to be re-instated.

Gee, George

Ian McDonald collection

  • RBSC-ARC-1783
  • Collection
  • [1910?]-[before 2022]

The collection contains materials related to Ian McDonald's Master's thesis research on the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), Local 213 “Class conflict and political factionalism: a history of Local 213 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, 1901-1961," and related to the activities of his father, Les McDonald, a trade union activist who belonged to Local 213 but was eventually suspended for leading the Lenkurt strike of 1966. Les McDonald was also a multi-sport athlete, and is credited with introducing the triathlon into the Olympics; some materials in the collection relate to Les McDonald's involvement in various sport and environmental organizations, as well as some of his personal papers. In addition to what he received from his father, Ian McDonald was also given papers by former IBEW Local 213 business manager Art O’Keeffe and Barry Sharbo, a board member of the Canadian Union of Electrical Workers (UE), as well as Alfie Huston, the former President of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213 from 1985-1988, which are included within the collection.

The collection is largely comprised of newspaper and photocopied journal articles, correspondence between members of IBEW Local 213, legal documentation, newsletters and other printed ephemera related to IBEW Local 213.

The collection also contains sound recordings of interviews with numerous figures in IBEW Local 213 created by Ian McDonald during his thesis research. McDonald's thesis, submitted for the completion of a Master of Arts in History at Simon Fraser University, can be found in the Summit database: http://summit.sfu.ca/item/6361.

The collection also contains background materials accumulated by McDonald while writing his book “The Red Baron of IBEW 213,” including digital sound recordings of interviews, research articles, notebooks, consent forms, a draft royalty agreement, a draft chapter and a press marketing questionnaire.

McDonald, Ian

IBEW Local 213 papers

The subseries contains materials related to the activities of IBEW Local 213 between 1949 and 1991, predominantly between1949 and the mid-1970s, including affidavits, reports, correspondence and newspapers. Documented within the subseries is the internal conflict between the IBEW’s American leadership and trade union activists within Local 213, and attempts to unite IBEW Locals in British Columbia through a provincial council. Also contains numerous issues of IBEW Local 213’s newspaper, the 213 Live Wire, between the mid-1950s and mid-1970s, grievance reports and ephemera from the 100th anniversary of the first annual convention of the IBEW of America, celebrated in 1991.

[IBEW Photographs]

File contains photographs documenting an IBEW labour struggle in Squamish, BC over July and August of 1965. Also contains photographs of the 1966 IBEW Canadian progress meeting attendees.

[Issues of 213 Live Wire (1 of 3)]

File contains various issues of "213 Live Wire," the newspaper of IBEW Local 213. A few copies of "Live Wire," the newspaper of the Canadian Union for Electrical Workers are also within the file, as well as some IBEW Local 213 business manager newsletters. Also contains a copy of the December 1964 issue of the Electrical Worker's Journal with handwritten annotations by Les McDonald.

[Issues of 213 Live Wire (2 of 3)]

File contains various issues of "213 Live Wire," the newspaper of IBEW Local 213. A few copies of "Live Wire," the newspaper of the Canadian Union for Electrical Workers are also within the file, as well as some IBEW Local 213 business manager newsletters. Also contains a copy of the December 1964 issue of the Electrical Worker's Journal with handwritten annotations by Les McDonald.

[Issues of 213 Live Wire (3 of 3)]

File contains various issues of "213 Live Wire," the newspaper of IBEW Local 213. A few copies of "Live Wire," the newspaper of the Canadian Union for Electrical Workers are also within the file, as well as some IBEW Local 213 business manager newsletters. Also contains a copy of the December 1964 issue of the Electrical Worker's Journal with handwritten annotations by Les McDonald.

Lenkurt papers

The subseries contains materials related to the 1966 wildcat strike by IBEW Local 213 workers at Lenkurt Electric, in which 257 members participated in a walkout that resulted in the loss of their jobs. A large number of the group were women protesting the employer’s demands for them to work overtime. The month-long dispute that followed was at times violent in response to the court injunctions and police presence sought by the employer.

The subseries is predominantly comprised of newspaper articles collected around the time of the strike; there are also legal documents related to Les McDonald’s appeal of his suspension following the Lenkurt strike, pamphlets, correspondence and photocopies of meeting minutes made by Ian McDonald.

Local 213 - Contemporary Clippings

File contains later newspapers clippings related to IBEW Local 213 collected by Ian McDonald after the submission of his Master's thesis. Also contains George Gee's obituary and memorial service program.

Pacific Tribune, 1957-1958 (strikes) re: 213

File contains photocopies of articles from the Pacific Tribune concerning IBEW Local 213's strike action against B.C. Electric, Hume and Rumble and Peterson Electric in March 1958, as well as the subsequent lockout by the Associated Electrical Contractors of B.C. in May 1958; Art O'Keeffe, John Waplington and George Gee are mentioned.

Research for book - The Red Baron of IBEW Local 213

This series contains materials accumulated by Ian McDonald related to the writing of his book “The Red Baron of IBEW Local 213” written about his father, Les McDonald. Materials include digital sound recordings of interviews, research articles, notebooks, consent forms, a draft royalty agreement, a draft chapter and a press marketing questionnaire.

[Spontaneity Went Out With Spartacus]

File contains an essay written by Ian McDonald on the Lenkurt strike and his father's role within the strike; the full title is "Spontaneity Went Out With Spartacus: IBEW Local 213, Les McDonald, and the Lenkurt Strike of 1966." Ian McDonald considers the essay to be a continuation of his work on his 1986 Master's thesis, which discussed the IBEW before the Lenkurt strike.

Thesis research

The series contains materials collected by Ian McDonald for the purposes of writing his Master’s thesis on the history of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 213, from 1901 to 1961. Materials within the series include collective agreements, newspaper and journal articles, court case summaries, interview transcriptions, census tables, meeting minutes, correspondence and dissertations; most materials are photocopies rather than original documents, however.

Also included are materials that pertain to the Lenkurt strike of 1966, which McDonald omitted from his original thesis to limit its scope. He took up the events surrounding the Lenkurt strike in a later essay, “Spontaneity Went Out with Spartacus: IBEW Local 213, Les McDonald, and the Lenkurt Strike of 1966,” which McDonald regards as a continuation of his Master’s research; the essay is also part of the series.

Union notes [(1 of 3)]

File contains notebooks, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes and pamphlets related to Les McDonald's union activities with IBEW Local 213.

Union notes [(2 of 3)]

File contains notebooks, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes and pamphlets related to Les McDonald's union activities with IBEW Local 213.

Union notes [(3 of 3)]

File contains notebooks, newspaper clippings, handwritten notes and pamphlets related to Les McDonald's union activities with IBEW Local 213.