Battle of Ballantyne Memorial Photos and Video – June 18, 2014

Battle of Ballantyne Memorial monument at New Brighton Park, Vancouver, BC

On June 18, 1935 violence on the Longshore picket line, instigated by Police and goons on behalf of the Shipping Federation and their allies became part of our history. The actions of that day continue to be a constant reminder of who we are and of the importance of maintaining this thread from our past to the present day. We belong here and we will stay here!

As part of the celebration of the 75th anniversary of Ballantyne in 2010, a permanent memorial was erected at New Brighton Park. Since then a small group of Longshore Pensioners have met annually at the memorial on June 18 at 11:00 AM in an informal recognition of the events that help form our ILWU Canada.

We will meet again at the memorial this year. Drop by, bring by a friend/family member and spend a bit of time socializing and remembering.

Local unrest peaked June 18 when a parade of a thousand striking waterfront workers marched into what has come to be known as the Battle of Ballantyne Pier. There had been a strike-lockout situation for two weeks on the waterfront prior to the Battle. Leading the parade, wearing his Victoria Cross (awarded for bravery at Vimy Ridge in August 1917) and Military Medal and carrying the Union Jack, was James “Mickey” O’Rourke. This is a man who deserves a book of his own! He was the second most decorated man in the Canadian Armed Forces, behind only air ace Billy Bishop. Described as “a hard-drinking, hard-playing, no-nonsense type, who often seemed hard pressed to hold his tongue,” O’Rourke had often been punished for drunkenness while in the army. Now he worked, when he could, on the Vancouver waterfront. It was his popularity, and the fact that he volunteered, that led to him being in the vanguard of the strikers, mostly longshoremen, who were demanding, among other things, wage increases, union recognition and the dismissal of strike bearers.

Other First World War veterans were marching beside O’Rourke. The demonstrators were met by a brand new police chief W.W.Billy Foster, standing in front of a big contingent of city police. Foster told the men to stop. When they refused, the protesters were attacked with clubs by the police ranked behind the chief. (One report on the melee says Foster pulled Mickey O’Rourke aside to safety.) Within minutes, more police joined in the fight. Besides the city police, there were contingents from the BC Provincial Police, who had been waiting unseen behind boxcars, and the RCMP. The police chased the crowd as it dispersed, clubbing them as they fled and firing tear gas. “Some protesters fought back,” says one website about the melee, “throwing rocks and other projectiles at the police. The battle went on for three hours and spread throughout the nearby residential district. Several people, both police and protesters, were hospitalized as a result of the riot, and one young demonstrator was shot in the back of his legs by a police shotgun. The strikers’ headquarters were raided, with tear gas shot through the windows to drive out any occupants before police entered, Strike supporters set up a makeshift hospital at the Ukrainian Hall, and the police did the same for their wounded at the Coroner’s Court on Cordova street. In total, 28 out of the 60 injured were hospitalized and 24 men arrested.”

The Battle of Ballantyne Pier was over, and the longshoremen had lost. But the would keep up the fight for better working conditions and their own independent union, and would get it ten years later with the formation of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Local 500.

Click here to watch the highlights of this year’s ceremony.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AAPQJkSy0c&feature=em-upload_owner

John Cortisito & Carl Minshaw

Leo Pognosinn & Gary Green

Max Hearn & Joe Mead

Mike Marino & Dave Layton

Gordon Westrand

Barry Cambell, Mike Marino, and Lenny Meneghallo

Barry Cambell, Mike Marino, and Lenny Meneghallo

Lenny Meneghallo, Dave Coccia

Les Copan, Dave Layton and Spike Cantini

Spike Cantini & Jim McKinnley

Mike Marino

Mike Marino & Peter Lahay (center) Les Copan (bottom right)

Harry Dhesi, Dave Hopkins jr. Bob Dhaliwal, Crystal Yanoshewki and her mom.

Dave Lomas

Bob Dhaliwal and Dave Lomas

Barry Campbell & Brian Anderson

JIm McKinley & Gordi Westrand