Communications Workers of Canada : The Communications Workers of Canada (CWC) traces its beginnings to 1945 when employees of Saskatchewan Government Telephones in the Plant, Clerical and Operator units organized themselves into Locals 1-Regina, 2-Saskatoon, and 3-Moose Jaw of the United Telephone Workers of Canada (UTW). The certification of these bargaining units was the first to take place under the Saskatchewan Trade Union Act, which was passed shortly after the election of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation provincial government in 1944. The UTW affiliated to the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) and signed its first collective agreement in May 1945. Local 4, Northern Electric Company Limited, Toronto, Ontario, and Local 6, Northern Telephone Limited in Northern Ontario, were certified in 1947 and 1951 respectively.
The UTW, on the advice of CCL officers, requested, and in 1950 obtained, affiliation to the Communications Workers of America (CWA), and this led ultimately to the Canadian locals becoming a separate District of the CWA in 1958 (District 10). The CWA convention of June 1967 approved the establishment of the Canadian Communications Workers Council (CCWC), a transitional step toward the formation of an autonomous Canadian union. Overtures for merger with the Federation of Telephone Workers of British Columbia (FTWBC; later known as the Telecommunications Workers Union) took place during 1967-1971.
The founding convention of the Communications Workers of Canada (CWC) was held during 6-7 April 1972 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The CWC's national policies were set at its conventions, which were held annually. The CWC was organized into four regions (West, Ontario, Quebec, and Atlantic). Based in regional offices, four regional vice-presidents also served on the national executive board with the national president and secretary-treasurer, and with rank-and-file members elected in regional caucuses who were later added to the executive board. Regional Councils were established as a forum for local unions to deal with regional issues. Although the national office was in Ontario (first in Toronto, and then in Ottawa), the secretary-treasurer remained based in Regina, Saskatchewan (reflecting the union's origins in that province). Fred W. Pomeroy and Ralph M. Wyatt served respectively as the CWC's national president and secretary-treasurer during 1972-1992. The CWC and the FTWBC (the other main Canadian Labour Congress affiliate that represented telecommunications workers) formed the Canadian Federation of Communications Workers (CFCW) in May 1973. The functions anticipated for the CFCW included the creation of a joint defence fund, research, education, and acting as a single national voice on legislative and public policy issues. The CWC also participated in two international labour federations, the International Metalworkers' Federation and Post, Telegraph and Telephone International.
The CWC underwent several major transformations during its 20-year existence. During 1975-1979, the union expanded significantly after two lengthy and successful raids against Bell Canada's independent employee associations (the Communications Union Canada, which represented Bell operators and dining service staff, and the Canadian Telephone Employees Association [CTEA], which represented crafts and services employees). Unsuccessful efforts were also made to organize Bell clerical workers (also CTEA members) into the CWC. Given that Bell operators and dining service staff were almost all women, and that crafts and services employees were almost all men, pay equity and other gender equality issues took on increasing importance for the CWC (and its successor) in the 1980s and 1990s (including a landmark pay equity complaint to the Canadian Human Rights Commission). In January 1984, the CWC merged with the Canadian Region of the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (IUE) to form the Communication, Electronic, Electrical, Technical and Salaried Workers; this name was soon shortened to Communications and Electrical Workers of Canada (also known as the CWC). The former IUE local unions maintained a distinct presence in the CWC's organizational structure by forming a new Industrial Sector (with its own vice-president). In 1985, the CWC withdrew from the CFCW, and assumed the defence fund and other functions previously carried out by the federation. As a union in the rapidly evolving telecommunications industry, from the 1980s on the CWC found itself increasingly dealing with issues arising from technological change and government de-regulation. In 1992, the CWC merged with the Canadian Paperworkers Union and the Energy and Chemical Workers Union to form the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.
