Centuries of Craftsmanship

This is the record of the 90-year history of Local 280 and of the trade in British Columbia. But the roots of the trade and of the organization of craftsmen in Britain, for example, are to be found more than five centuries ago. In 1422, a list of the crafts “exercised in London from times of old” includes the coppersmiths and braziers.

Half a century earlier, attempts by the craftsmen to protect and advance the trade were recorded in the books of the London Guildhall in 1365 when it was recorded that the “good men of the mystery of founders” petitioned the Mayor and Aldermen complaining that:

“Diverse members of the mystery make their work of false metal and use false solder which, when exposed to fire or great strain, break and dissolve to the great damage of those that do purchase them and to the great slander of the City and the whole mystery.”

The next 300 years were the era of the Guilds, organizations controlled by master craftsmen, designed for their own benefit, but also striving to maintain the integrity of their trades. The Guilds were fundamentally employers’ organizations, with journeymen and apprentices under their employ governed by strict and often harsh rules and discipline.

The Diversity of the Crafts

The crafts were diverse and often in competition. Coppersmiths, Braziers and Tin Plate Workers were the largest during this period. Most of the tools of the trades remain familiar today. The Court of Tin Plate Workers in 1760 listed the requirements for setting up a tin plate shop. In addition to a few tools unrecognizable today, the list includes:

  • Large and small anvils, large and small shears, and beak irons
  • Smoothing, planishing, hollowing, flat-faced, and creasing hammers
  • Creasing irons, hollow and flat punches, chisels, and gouges
  • Knippers, plyers, squares, and rules
  • Soldering shanks, a vide, fire pots, and large and small compasses

The key to control of the trade was control of apprenticeship. Seven years of servitude was established by law. Each master was limited in the number of apprentices, usually three of fewer. Apprentices lived in the home of the master and were fed and clothed, but received no wages. Whipping was legal and an apprentice who fled was prosecuted on his capture.

The Decline of the Guilds and the Rise of Societies

The Guilds survived and functioned for a remarkably long time. By the middle of the 18th century, however, the system was in decline. Throughout that century, the largest London guild, the London Tin Plate Workers Company, was locked in a running battle with journeymen. An important means of control was the fixing of prices for the various articles produced. But by 1769, journeymen were in full revolt against the prices established. Repeated court actions to revise prices upwards failed; however, increasingly masters were forced to negotiate their price lists with the journeymen.

It was the dawn of the new era of trade societies, resisted fiercely by the employers. Records indicate that as early as 1721 employers complained of these “unlawful combinations.” The first evidence of formal union organization in the trades is a handwritten book of articles of the Friendly Society of Tin Plate Workers of London, dated January 1798. At that time and for several decades after, union organization as we know it was illegal. Accordingly, the stated objectives of the Friendly Societies were deliberately vague, suggesting that their primary purpose was to aid members in distress through unemployment or illness.

Nineteenth Century Working Conditions

By the beginning of the 19th century, coppersmiths were working mainly on vats and boilers for breweries and distilleries, producing copper utensils, and were active in the shipping industry. Tin plate workers were producing pots, pans, kettles, baths, lamps, dairy equipment, and a range of other household and industrial items. Conditions of work in 1815 spelled out the following hours:

Summer Hours: From six o’clock in the morning until seven in the evening (Tuesday–Friday). Work started an hour later on Monday and finished an hour earlier on Saturday.

Winter Hours: From eight o’clock in the morning until eight in the evening (Monday–Friday) and eight to five on Saturday.

Holidays: Christmas Day and Good Friday.

An important factor throughout the 19th century was the tramping system. With no unemployment pay for most workers, members of the various trade societies were enabled to leave their hometown in search of work. Arriving in a new town, they could register with the landlord at the local society’s public house. They were usually provided one night’s food, lodging, and beer, but if no work was available they were expected to move on. For young men the system was not too hard, but for older men, life on the road and separation from families imposed severe hardship.

The Path to a National Union

Strikes were a rarity throughout the 18th century because most of the industry was operating on a handicraft basis. In the years that followed, however, industrialization and the development of larger companies created conditions under which tradesmen began to turn to collective action. An early struggle of importance was the campaign against the Combination Acts which, from 1799, made collective action by workers illegal.

In 1824 the laws were repealed and a wave of wage claims and strikes swept the country. The last half of the 19th century saw the dream of a national union become a reality. The formation of the General Tramping Union of Tin Plate Workers in 1861 led eventually to a merger as the National Amalgamated Tin Plate Workers in 1900. Later, it became known as the National Union of Sheet Metal Workers, Coppersmiths, Heating and Domestic Engineers.

North American Roots and Local 280

The other important historical roots of Local 280 are found in the development of the International Union in North America. Even before the American Revolution, British and Irish settlers in the northeast states had established a tradition of traveling tinsmiths who were the original “Yankee peddlers.” Coppersmiths produced heavy and light domestic wares, including fine work now valued as colonial art. Paul Revere, historically famous as a silversmith, was originally a coppersmith.

In 1887, Robert Kellerstrass took the initiative in establishing a national union. A founding convention was set for Toledo, Ohio on January 25, 1888, establishing the Tin, Sheet Iron and Cornice Workers’ International Association. In 1897 the organization became the Amalgamated Sheet Metal Workers International Association, and the current name—Sheet Metal Workers International Association—was adopted in 1924.

In 1896 the first local was chartered in Canada—Local 30 in Toronto. Six years later, in 1902, Local 280 was chartered in Vancouver. The history of Local 280 and the development of the sheet metal industry in British Columbia owes much to this legacy of craftsmanship and trade union commitment of generations of coppersmiths, braziers, and tin plate workers.