George Burt (17 August 1903 — 6 September 1988) was

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

Director of the

United Auto Workers The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Auto Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States (including Puerto Rico ...

(UAW/CAW) from 1939 to 1968. His father was a brickmaker and active trade unionist. Burt worked as an apprentice plumber before getting a job on the

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

assembly line in

Oshawa, Ontario Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

in 1929. Like many auto workers, his pay was so low that he was forced to go on welfare at times during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. In 1937, the

Congress of Industrial Organizations The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of ...

came to Canada to organize the Oshawa plant which went out on strike for 12 days in April forcing GM to recognize the union. Burt became treasurer of the newly formed UAW local 222. The local's president was

Charles Millard Charles Hibbert (Charlie) Millard (August 25, 1896 – November 24, 1978) was a Canadian trade union activist and politician. Early life He was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, the son of a railroad repairman, and first trained as a carpenter. Mi ...

who also served as Canadian director of the UAW. Millard was an

anti-Communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

and attempted to purge Communists and leftists from the union and promote the

social democratic Social democracy is a political, social, and economic philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy. As a policy regime, it is described by academics as advocating economic and social interventions to promote soci ...

Co-operative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; french: Fédération du Commonwealth Coopératif, FCC); from 1955 the Social Democratic Party of Canada (''french: Parti social démocratique du Canada''), was a federal democratic socialism, democra ...

. A "unity caucus" of Communists, left wing CCFers and militants ran Burt as their candidate against Millard in 1939. Burt was elected Canadian director of the UAW and would remain in that position for almost thirty years. He would also serve as vice-president of the

Canadian Congress of Labour The Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL) was founded in 1940 and merged with Trades and Labour Congress of Canada (TLC) to form the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) in 1956. Founding In 1939, the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) supporters we ...

and president of the

Ontario Provincial Federation of Labour Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic Eastern Canada, eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located ...

(1951–1953) a forerunner of the

Ontario Federation of Labour The Ontario Federation of Labour is a federation of labour unions in the Canadian province of Ontario. The original OFL was established by the Canadian Congress of Labour in 1944. It was merged with the rival Ontario Provincial Federation of La ...

.Burt, George
in ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (accessed 3 November 2006). Under Burt's leadership, the Canadian UAW organized

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automoti ...

. Burt was arrested once in 1940 for allegedly interfering with war production when he participated in a picket across the street from Windsor's Chrysler plant.Getting a Voice
" in ''The CAW: The Birth and Transformation of a Union'' (accessed 3 November 2006). In 1945, Burt was endorsed by both the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

and the Communist

Labor-Progressive Party The Labor-Progressive Party (french: Parti ouvrier-progressiste) was the legal Front organization, front of the Communist Party of Canada from 1943 to 1959. Origins and initial success In the 1940 Canadian federal election, 1940 federal elect ...

as one of a slate of three UAW "Liberal-Labour" candidates running in CCF held seats in Windsor in the Ontario provincial election but was defeated. It was not until December 1948 that the UAW fully endorsed the CCF. According to labour historian Sam Gindin, Burt supported the left when it was the dominant faction in the late 1930s and 1940s but, during the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

, moved away from the Communists and became a supporter of moderate UAW leader

Walter Reuther Walter Philip Reuther (; September 1, 1907 – May 9, 1970) was an American leader of Labor unions in the United States, organized labor and Civil rights movements, civil rights activist who built the United Automobile Workers (UAW) into one of ...

. In 1961 he was a member of the

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; french: Nouveau Parti démocratique, NPD) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * t ...

's founding committee.

Legacy

Burt's work with the UAW is documented i
The George Burt Papers
at the

Walter P. Reuther Library The Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, located on the campus of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, contains millions of primary source documents related to the labor history of the United States, urban affai ...

Wayne State University Wayne State University (WSU) is a public research university in Detroit, Michigan. It is Michigan's third-largest university. Founded in 1868, Wayne State consists of 13 schools and colleges offering approximately 350 programs to nearly 25,000 ...

. The collection contains council meeting minutes from 1940 to 1953 and Burt's council reports. In particular, the collection illustrates Burt's work during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burt, George Canadian socialists Trade unionists from Ontario United Auto Workers people Candidates in Ontario provincial elections 1903 births 1988 deaths Liberal-Labour (Canada) politicians Canadian Labour Congress people

Legacy

See also

References