Pat Sullivan (trade unionist)

John Allan "Pat" Sullivan (born 19 June 1893) was an Irish-born Canadian trade unionist.

Born in Carrick-on-Shannon, Sullivan emigrated to Canada in 1926, with his family. In Canada, he found work as a cook on a ship on the Great Lakes. He joined the union of seamen, which collaborated with the shipping companies. Disappointed by the union's approach, in 1935, Sullivan founded a rival union, the National Seamen's Union, which by 1938 was known as the Canadian Seaman's Union (CSU), and had about 5,000 members. That year, he led the union in a successful strike.[1]

After initially affiliated his union to the All-Canadian Congress of Labour, in 1938, Sullivan moved it to the more international Trades and Labor Congress of Canada (TLC). He had joined the Communist Party of Canada in 1936, and when he was elected as a vice president of the TLC, he was the first communist to hold such a post, something which prompted the resignation of TLC secretary-treasurer Arthur D'Aoust.[1] Sullivan later rose to become secretary-treasurer himself.[2]

In 1940, Sullivan was interned, officially due to sabotage of the war effort. His trial took place in 1941, and largely focused on his trade union activities, rather than his political affiliation. He was released the following year, but had to report regularly to the police until the end of World War II.[3]

In 1945, he attended the World Trade Union Conference in London alongside many renowned trade unionists.

In 1947, Sullivan left the Communist Party, denouncing its influence in the union movement.[4] He also resigned from the TLC, and from the Canadian Seamen's Union, founding a rival Canadian Lake Seamen's Union, which in 1949 merged into the Seafarer's International Union.[5][6] The CSU claimed that he had been in secret talks with shipowners, and that Sullivan had resigned when given an ultimatum by other unions leaders, to stop this activity.[2] In 1955, Sullivan published a memoir, Red Sails on the Great Lakes.[7]

References
  1. Kaplan, William (1987). Everything that Floats: Pat Sullivan, Hal Banks, and the Seamen's Unions of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802025975.
  2. Green, Jim (1986). Against the Tide: The Story of the Canadian Seamen's Union. Progress Books. ISBN 9780919396494.
  3. MacDowell, Laurel Sefton (2002). Renegade Lawyer: The Life of J.L. Cohen. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802085603.
  4. "Canada: Pat tells all". TIME. 24 March 1947. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  5. Morton, Desmond (1999). Working People: An Illustrated History of the Canadian Labour Movement (5 ed.). McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN 9780773575547.
  6. Heron, Craig (Fall 1989). "Communists, Gangsters, and Canadian Sailors". Labour / Le Travail. 24.
  7. "Reviews of Books". The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science. 23 (4). November 1957.
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