Jackson, C. S. (Clarence Shirley), 1906-1993 : Clarence Shirley Jackson, labour union official, was born in Fort William, Ontario, in 1906. The son of a clothing-store owner (and mayor of Fort William), Jackson first worked in bush camps, pulp and paper plants, and as a grainhandler in Fort William / Port Arthur and north-western Ontario. Moving to Montreal in 1928, he found employment as an actuary for Sun Life and also worked in the Treasury Department of Canadian Industries Limited. In 1934 Jackson moved to Toronto, where he held positions with brokerage firms and with the Thor Washing Machine Company (as a salesman and crater).
A fellow employee at Thor influenced Jackson in becoming a socialist in the mid-1930s. Jackson subsequently became active in the growing industrial union movement, working as a volunteer organizer with such figures as Dick Steele of the Workers Unity League during 1936-1937. After signing up workers at the Thor Washing Machine Company, Jackson approached the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (UE), at the time a new and quickly expanding CIO affiliate. In 1937, he was appointed as a UE organizer for District 5 (Canada), and was soon chosen as the union's International Vice President for District 5 (later Canadian president), a position which he held until his retirement in April 1980. The UE organized and represented workers in electrical manufacturing industries, including such major employers as Canadian Westinghouse and Canadian General Electric. Like many Canadian industrial unions, the UE's membership grew significantly in the labour-starved economy of World War II.
The political views of Jackson and other officers of UE District 5 resulted in many controversies. Jackson was interned under the Defence of Canada Regulations during June-December 1941, ostensibly because of his association with members of the Communist Party and his role in a strike at a war plant. The UE was a founding affiliate of the Canadian Congress of Labour (CCL); nevertheless, the relationship between the UE and the CCL leadership (many of whom were partisans of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation) was often tempestuous. In 1949 Jackson and the UE were expelled from the CCL as part of the campaign by the social democratic caucus to rid the CCL of leftist unions. A new union, the International Union of Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers (IUE) was established in an effort to bring dissident UE locals back into the CCL.
Under similar pressure in the United States, the UE's US and Canadian branches found it necessary to establish themselves as fraternal but separate organizations in 1958. Despite being cut off from the mainstream of the Canadian labour movement after 1949 (which allowed the IUE and other unions to "raid" it with impunity), the Canadian UE maintained its membership under Jackson's leadership through its organizational work: defending its members' interests in the workplace, in collective agreements, and in representations to governments. In 1972, Jackson and the UE rejoined the "house of labour" when the Canadian Labour Congress convention voted to accept it as an affiliate. As the top Canadian officer of the UE for 43 years, Jackson gained a reputation (to quote the Canadian Encyclopedia) as "one of the most articulate, well-informed, though controversial, labour leaders in Canada".
Among Jackson's retirement projects was writing a history of the UE in Canada. This evolved into an autobiography and, as he grew older, into a biography. Following attempts by several writers, Doug Smith's "Cold Warrior: C.S. Jackson and the United Electrical Workers" was published in 1997. C.S. Jackson died at Winnipeg, Manitoba, in July 1993.
