J. Slade and Stewart/ Asian Foods

Category: Sites from the 'Labour, Work and Working People' booklet

A union operation for over 50 years, this produce distributor locked out workers during contract negotiations with the Retail-Wholesale Union in May of 1984. One employee had worked for the company for more than 30 years. Permitted under the labour code of the day, the company hired scabs to deliver Slade and Stewart goods to restaurants and stores. Although union supporters organized “sip-ins” as means to occupy restaurants and the boycott of stores that bought from the company, the lockout dragged on. One picketer was stabbed to death, but the incident was never tied to the dispute. The union eventually lost the strike as the government introduced legislation that banned secondary picketing.

The Starvation Army Band memorialized the dispute:

“Sunshine, Standby and Snowboy too/ are brands that we avoid

They come from Slade and Stewart, Oh boy/locked their workers out the door

Herding scabs to run the store/Sunshine, Standby and Snowboy too/ are brands that we avoid.”