Restaurant Organizing

In the 1930s waitressing was a slightly better option than domestic work, as women were denied relief and forced into domestic labour. Restaurant work was characterized by long hours of work, harassment, and low pay – sometimes 7 days a week for as long as 10 hours/day and split shifts. Reformers debated whether to restrict women to day work to protect them against violence when leaving late shifts or provide better transportation and policing. The efforts of HREU organizers and activists saw the local grow from thirty-five card-carrying members in 1935 to the third largest member of the Vancouver Trades and Labour Council by 1938 and made up of 80% women. It continued to grow through the 1940s as organization of canteens and restaurants in proximity to wartime industry was supported by industrial union organizers. Women returned to waitressing after their years in the war industries and brought expectations for better conditions and wages with them. Women increasingly took up the torch as organizers for HREU with campaigns and strikes throughout the decade of the 1940s.