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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
| 1978 Inco strike | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 15 September 1978 - 7 June 1979 | ||
| Location | |||
| Caused by | Attempted pay cut and layoff by management | ||
| Methods | Strike, picket lines | ||
| Result | Victory for workers, new contract signed | ||
| Parties | |||
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| Lead figures | |||
Dave Patterson[1] | |||
| Number | |||
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The Inco strike of 1978 (locally referred to as the Sudbury Strike of 1978) was a strike by workers at Inco's operations in Sudbury, Ontario, which lasted from 15 September 1978 until 7 June 1979. It was the longest strike in Inco or Sudbury history until the strike of 2009–10, and at the time broke the record for the longest strike in Canada.[3] It has been noted as one of the most important labour disputes in Canadian history.[4]
The conflict was caused by proposed layoffs and cuts to pay and benefits by Inco management, with low nickel prices as a justification.[5][6]
Around 11,600 workers were involved in the strike, which affected the wages sustaining 43,000 people, or about 26% of the population of metropolitan Sudbury.[2] By the end of the strike, the company had been starved of over twenty-two million hours of labour, smashing records for the longest strike in both Canadian and Inco history.[1]
Community support for the union was strong, with local politicians such as future mayor and then-Member of Parliament John Rodriguez as well as other New Democrats vocally supporting the strikers.[7] A major role was played by women's support committees, which had also existed during the 1958 strike.[8]
The role of women in the community during the strike was profiled in the 1980 documentary film A Wives' Tale (Une histoire de femmes).[9]
Concessions won as a result of the strike included Inco's "thirty-and-out" policy, whereby workers with thirty years at the company could retire with a full pension, regardless of age.[6] As well, most miners received a dollar an hour wage increase.[1]
A study on alcohol consumption showed that over 35% of strikers and over 40% of their wives reportedly stopped drinking alcohol or drank dramatically less during the course of the strike, while a small minority drank much more, hypothesized as being stress-induced. Overall, alcohol sales declined by 10% during the strike as compared to the previous winter, likely due to economic reasons.[2]
This effect was mirrored in the rest of the local economy, which was catastrophically affected. This would later play a critical role in spurring new economic development efforts in the city into the 1980s and 1990s; when a longer strike hit the same operations, now owned by Vale, in 2009, the action had a much more modest effect on the city's economy than the 1978 strike, with the local rate of unemployment declining slightly during the strike.[10]
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Inco strike of 1978 (locally referred to as the Sudbury Strike of 1978) was a strike by workers at Inco's operations in Sudbury, Ontario, which lasted from 15 September 1978 until 7 June 1979. It was the longest strike in Inco or Sudbury history until the strike of 2009–10, and at the time broke the record for the longest strike in Canada. It has been noted as one of the most important labour disputes in Canadian history.
2009–2010 Vale Inco strike was a labour dispute in Port Colborne and Sudbury, Ontario which lasted from July 13, 2009 to July 8, 2010. Striking workers were part of United Steel Workers Local 6500. It was the longest strike in Canadian history at the time, surpassing the 1978 Inco strike. The strike ended after 75% of the workers voted to ratify a new contract that would earn them a $2.46 cumulative hourly wage increase over the following four years and up to $4000 in back-to-work bonuses. The strike included multiple lawsuits which parties agreed to drop after the strike concluded.
A Wives' Tale (French: Une histoire de femmes) is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Sophie Bissonnette, Martin Duckworth and Joyce Rock and released in 1980. The film explores the role of women in the community during the 1978 Inco strike, when a nine-month strike at INCO's mining operations in Sudbury, Ontario decimated the local economy. The film won the Prix de la critique québécoise from the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma in 1981, although the filmmakers did not receive the traditional prize money as the Quebec Film Institute had opted to discontinue funding the award without informing the AQCC. The film was also a Genie Award nominee for Best Theatrical Documentary at the 2nd Genie Awards in 1981.
The Inco Superstack in Sudbury, Ontario, with a height of 381 metres (1,250 ft), is the tallest chimney in Canada and in the Western Hemisphere and the second-tallest freestanding chimney in the world, after the Ekibastuz GRES-2 Power Station, in Kazakhstan. It is also the second-tallest freestanding structure of any type in Canada, behind the CN Tower but ahead of First Canadian Place. As of 2023, it is the 51st-tallest freestanding structure in the world. The Superstack has a tapered shape as it gets wider near the base reaching a width of 35 meters. It is located on top of the largest nickel smelting operation in the world at Vale's Copper Cliff processing facility in the city of Greater Sudbury. In 2018, Vale announced that the stack would be decommissioned and dismantled, beginning in 2020. Two new, smaller stacks were constructed under the company's Clean Atmospheric Emissions Reduction Project. In July 2020, Vale announced that the Superstack had been officially taken out of service but would remain operational in standby mode for two more months as a backup in the event of a malfunction in the new system, and that the dismantling of the Superstack would then begin. Although some have called for the stack to be left in place as a tourist attraction, in September 2024, Vale announced an updated plan, which will see the stack dismantled by 2029. Dismantling of the Superstack commenced in September 2025 and as of October 2025 the stack height was reduced by about 35 meters, giving it a current height of approximately ~345 meters. The current height reduction resulted in the Superstack falling from second to eighth place for the tallest chimney in the world. Demolition work is set to begin in May 2026. In addition to further reducing sulphur dioxide emissions by 85 per cent, the decommissioning of the stack was expected to cut the complex's natural gas consumption in half.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →Mae Jemison, aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1992.
