Oral history interview of Elroy Robson, railway workers' organizer, by Wayne Roberts, in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, about: his early years; born in Halifax, 1897, went to high school and then took correspondence courses, where he met Joe Wallace; born to family of faithful CPR workers--portrait of this old-style worker who took pride and personal responsibility in his job, voted Tory; portrait of thrifty mother, and father 's methods of keeping extra spending money; as a boy, he worked part-time selling papers or at a grocery store; political discussions at store and recitations at school introduced him to oratory; in 1917, he became a salesman for correspondence school, "a turning point in my life", since he worked with Joe Wallace; Wallace taught him grammar and introduced him to single tax ideas; Wallace also wrote for CBRE journal; Wallace introduced Robson to A .R. Mosher in 1917 and encouraged him to take an organizing job with CBRE; early organizing; Robson took organizing job as a way of seeing the country; at first, he approached the job as a salesman; discussion of organizing in Toronto and Niagara; discussion of union initiation rituals and their significance; organized Montreal express workers-higher pay and overtime pay were always key issues; incident in Montreal where Mosher arrested and "skipped bail"; general discussion of Winnipeg General Strike and 1920s; telegraph worker changed; Mosher telegram to make it more militant; Robson hesitant about general strikes because of war-time experience with Vancouver mob; Robson "cleaned up mess" after strike, overcame company unions; -brief story of Dorothy Keenan, woman active in strike; brief discussion of company unions and their shortcomings; recollections of Sir Henry Thoton of CNR, a "great white chief"; CPR "hated our guts" and replaced white crews with Black scabs; US rail unions excluded CBRE from joint bargaining; CBRE expelled from TLC with "American gold"; CBRE was "progressive" and supportive of labour politics; as "progressive" union, CBRE even-handed with Co Communists; brief recollection of formation of All Canadian; Congress of Labour; Bob Russell of OB and Robson organized centre for unemployed in Winnipeg; railways cut wages during the 19JOs, but labor; relations were stable there was no "rabble rousing"; incident during 1950 railway strike showing close relations between union and management; there were two rounds of wage reductions in the 193Os, CBRE fought to limit these to 15%; difficulty of collecting dues from "no bills" tradition of gossip or "Baker Heater News" among rail workers; ~World War II; spotty recollections on formation of Canadian Congress of Labour; Robson became director of organization for CCL; "I can tell stories a yard long" about good labour relations during war; Robson appointed to War Labour Board ;experiences; with employers arid workers who wanted to break ceilings; in his opinion the Board worked well; War and Post-war -- Robson, joins speakers' committee for war bond drive - "labour boys made the best speeches"; named to Order of British Empire; Robson sent to Halifax to settle shipyard workers' dispute; he won workers' faith by revealing Haligonian origins; railway labour relations were stable "we got substantial increases in pay without any effort"; Robson heads up new-found Ontario Federation of Labour and becomes CBRE vice-president; CBRE led off 1950 rail strike; Robson's impressions of Mosher as excellent negotiator; elliptical comments on Mosher-McGuire controversy; reference to conflict between CP and B CBRE during mid-1930s; further recollections of Robson 's father and his loyalty to CPR during Halifax explosion; typical of responsibility of' rail workers who worked without supervision and who valued job security; CBRE composed of "certain classes of employees", that it, those not covered by other unions; description of express workers who were key to expansion of CBRE; clerks and freight handlers; discussion of colour line in railways description of roundhouse jobs discussion of railroaders' talk; discussion of rail organizer's life; - assessment of east-west differences in labour movement; Communism, Nationalism -- early popularity of Communism when identified with idealism; why CBRE less anti-Communist than other unions; "Thirty Years War" between CBRE and international rail unions; 1950s,1960s; discussion of CBRE-BRC relations, 1945-56; account of Robson's role ensuring Macdonald election over Mahoney as CCL secretary-treasurer; account of CBRE conflict with Hal Banks and Robson 's disappointment with Norris trusteeship; technical change and dieselization in 1950s; dieselization and conflict with railway firemen roundhouses decimated by dieselization workers; phased out through attrition; brief discussion of his duties prior to retirement and his role in conciliating 1964 west coast shipping dispute, over opposition of local union leader; discussion of Mutual Press, CBRE printing plant.
