Page 7 - William H. "Bull" Marah - Still Fighting

ISSUE : Issue 72

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1997/6/1

definitely. No ar? gument with me on that. The only ar? gument was on the type! We were some glad to dump the Dosco Miners and get the (Anderton Shearer) in. Be? cause the (Ander? ton Shearers) are safer. And more productive, and-- well, you could say it was true mechanization. (Readers may want to go back to "Gordon Naish: Dosco Miner Introduction" in Issue 42 of Cape Breton's Magazine. The Dosco Miner was a rare instance of a coal company's trying to develop new machinery rather than purchase it from a manufactur? er. Tried out in the workplace, its pre? liminary flaws were exposed--and while it was the main coal getter for years before the Anderton Shearer, it rarely had a good name with the work force.) Having come up In union ranks through Numbersl6 and 12 locals, Bill Marsh receives a presentation from fel? low local members on his election as the first New Waterford native to become president of District 26 United l/line Workers of America. Left to right: district board member Douglas MacDonald, Louis Mercer (an officer o Number 12), Bill, two unidentified men, Pius Burke, and. Frank Petrie. baric, you know. It was just ridiculous, you know, for men to beat themselves to death, eh? And die relatively young men. Holy smokes! We've got fellows running around, 70 years old now--they'd knock you down on a dance floor! I just love it! I take--22 years--! take full marks--full credit for it. They say, "What did Marsh ever do?" I just laugh to myself; I know what I did. I saved a lot of lives. I used to fight with (Harold Gordon) all the time. No, I liked the old son-of-a-gun. He was a handshaker. His word was good. And he was tough and rough, out of the old school. He represented the shareholders the way they should be represented. I was rep? resenting the coal miners. So there was a good clash there, eh? A lot of battles and brawls,...but a lot of mutual respect. I respected him. And I didn't want to make love to him--I had my wife here!... I think all they were looking for with the Dosco Miner--you had your ruggedly, indi- vidualistically, free enterpreneurs at the time. All they were looking for was pro? ductivity and money--profits. That's the main thing. Now I was looking for (mechanization) for a different reason. I was looking for it for to make the work more sensible--not so bar- (And you also had a strong feeling against using strikes as a weapon.) Thought it was crazy. That was my job. That was my work. My work was to represent the men, and rep? resent them at the bargaining table, and represent them in the grievance procedures and the enforcement of the contract and all the rest of it. They were paying me good money for that. And I'm telling you, I loved that job. And I loved not having to go down into the coal mines at 6 o'clock in the morning, or going down at 2 o'clock in the heat of the summer on nightshift, and all the rest of it. I really appreciated being president of the district. Appreciat? ed not having to do that. And getting well- paid to represent them. So, consequently, I couldn't see them going on strike when I was getting paid to do the job, because then--like I was saying to you before--they were only doing my work. And I was getting paid for it, see. BEHIND '-Z/'n/REGISTERED NURSE... % standards tha''B Pl'OTECT YOU i Registered Nurses Association of Kova Scotia 1-800-565-9744

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