JAMES L. SUGRUE: James Leonard Sugrue (1883 - 1930) was the first president of the New Brunswick Federation of Labour, 1913 - 1918.

When the New Brunswick Federation of Labour was organized in September 1913, the delegates chose James L. Sugrue as their president. He was only 30 years old, but Sugrue was already known as a good speaker with a reputation for responsibility and effectiveness in advancing the cause of labour. Although union history in Saint John went back many years, Sugrue belonged to a group of new leaders who were determined to improve the influence of workers in New Brunswick by strengthening the bonds of solidarity at the provincial level.

Born in West Saint John, 1 September 1883, James Leonard Sugrue grew up in the Irish working-class community there. His mother, Mary Josephine Driscoll, was the daughter of Irish immigrants from Cork; his father, James R. Sugrue, was a Kilkenny immigrant who taught in the city schools for many years. Sugrue and his older brother both went to work in the building trades. “Jimmie” Sugrue, as he was often known, became active in the carpenters' union. This was a long-established local union, which in 1901 joined up with the American Federation of Labor as Local 919, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. The Saint John carpenters at this time were pushing hard for major improvements in wages and conditions, and in 1913 they were the first in their trade in the Maritimes to win the eight-hour day. Sugrue became financial secretary of the local in 1910, and his abilities were recognized more widely when he was elected President of the Saint John Trades and Labour Council in 1912.

Plans for a federation of labour were discussed among provincial labour leaders in 1912, and Sugrue kept the idea alive in 1913. He was disappointed with the inadequate Fair Wages Act brought in by the provincial government that year. He argued that it showed the need for workers to have more influence in provincial affairs: “What a splendid piece of legislation. The workers should certainly be proud of the lawyers, doctors and business men who are representing them. . . . Let's quit acting comedy, brothers, and get down to business. We need a Federation of Labor in this province and the time is ripe for its formation” .

FIRST REPORT: Sugrue was the first labour member appointed to the Workmen's Compensation Board when it was established in 1918. Note the use of the printers' union label on the cover of its first Annual Report.

At this time only Alberta and British Columbia workers had provincial federations, and New Brunswick's became the third. An organizational meeting took place in September 1913, and the founding convention was held at the Carpenters' Hall in Saint John in January 1914. Within the year the new federation reported 26 affiliated unions representing 3,000 members. Later that year the Federation attracted national attention when the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada came to Saint John for its annual convention, the first time they had met in New Brunswick.

Sugrue believed that workers should use their political influence to bring about social changes. During his time in office, Sugrue met regularly with premiers and politicians to lobby for changes in provincial laws that were endorsed at Federation meetings. In addition to calling for improved wages and conditions for workers, this included free school books for children, more health regulations and medical inspections in schools, labour representation on public boards and the extension of the franchise to women on the same basis as men. As Sugrue once explained, the cause of labour was important to the whole community: “In the long run we hope to so improve conditions here that the people won't leave for the west in search of better wages and shorter hours of labor” .

Sugrue's most important single achievement as president was the enactment of a modern Workmen's Compensation Act. Earlier laws to aid workers killed or injured on the job were very inadequate - payments were low, and the laws required workers or their family to go to court to prove that the accident was the employer's fault; this placed workers in a poor position to refuse whatever out-of-court settlements employers chose to offer. In response to the federation's campaign for better legislation, the province appointed Sugrue and Fred Daley of the longshoremen's union to a royal commission. After investigating recent reforms in Ontario and Nova Scotia and holding hearings in New Brunswick, the commission reported in favour of a new law that would be based on insurance principles and administered by an independent government-appointed board. Despite the opposition of some employers, the province accepted the proposal, passed legislation and brought it into effect in 1918. Sugrue was named the labour representative on the new Workmen's Compensation Board. As one of three board members, he was in a strong position to defend workers' interests and promote improvements to the system.

Even after he stepped down as president in late 1918, Sugrue remained a regular speaker at the federation meetings, where he kept the delegates posted on the work of the Compensation Board. In 1923, on the recommendation of the Federation, his wife, Estella Newman Sugrue, was appointed to a provincial royal commission on mothers' allowances and minimum wages for women. Although the province enacted legislation in 1930, the government failed to implement the laws at the time.

Sugrue died prematurely on 24 June 1930, the result of poor health brought on by an apparent heart attack two years earlier. He was remembered by the Saint John Trades and Labour Council as “a most worthy friend and brother, one who has on many occasions proved his worth to our Movement” . It was a fitting tribute to the Federation's founding president, a man who helped raise labour solidarity in New Brunswick to a new level and showed how a provincial federation could work to achieve social reforms that benefited all working people in the province.