Remember Bob Jaggard?

[shamsson]

Hi Guys;

I was wondering if anyone remembers Bob Jaggard? I used to watch him on the News and Whenever I saw him at my dad's store, I always told him how I'd seen him on the news. He seemed to have been a celebrity. I remember how he drove a Lada. Why was he always on the News? I know he was an HSR bus driver. He always tried to look young. I met some bus driver in Hamilton when I was there about 11 years ago and I asked about Mr. Jaggard and he told me he'd passed away. Can anyone tell me what his impact was on the city?

 

[scotto]

I remember him, seen his work at All Candidates meetings, but I didn't know him. He is still part of the history of the Beach.
I have added a Spec article from 1994 when he passed away.
Posted with permission from the Hamilton Spectator
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Unionist 'lived his beliefs'; [Final Edition]
ADRIAN HUMPHREYS. The Spectator. Hamilton, Ont.: Mar 16, 1994.
1994 The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved.
DIFFERENT FOLKS have different memories of Bob Jaggard.

For some fellow political activists, it's the image of an agitated Mr. Jaggard, with bullhorn at his mouth, telling the government what he thinks of its legislation.

Unionists will likely remember an enthusiastic Mr. Jaggard rallying the workers through yet another Labor Day parade.

Many Hamiltonians will know him best as the man who knocked on their door to drum up support for the Communist Party of Canada, or as leader of the unionized Hamilton Street Railway bus and trolley drivers who struggled through a tough summer strike in 1982.

But through all the public faces of Mr. Jaggard, who died yesterday in Joseph Brant Memorial Hospital in Burlington, those close to him will most remember someone willing to listen, help, and above all, live by his strong convictions.

'I can't think of anybody who worked harder for the causes he believed in than Bob,' said Dave Wilson, Hamilton alderman and trade unionist.

'He was at every demonstration, every committee meeting, every organizing session,' he said.

Mr. Jaggard, who was in his mid-60s, was president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 107, for about 12 years, executive member of the Hamilton and District Labour Council, member of the Communist Party of Canada for more than 25 years and often a political candidate, running both provincially and federally under the Communist banner.

Most recently, he fought last year for Sheila Copps' riding, Hamilton East.

World peace

Mr. Jaggard also dedicated much of his time to his pet causes -- things as global as world peace and the environment and as local as painting a community centre on the Beach Strip, where he lived.

And through it all, he managed to find time for his job -- 36 years of driving for the HSR, logging over a million kilometres behind the wheel.

'It is a great loss to the labor movement and to the whole community,' said Tony McNulty, administrative assistant with the Canadian Auto Workers' Union.

'He was one of the most sincere men I've ever met. He was ready to assist anyone with a problem, he was a great humanitarian,' he said.

'Social action was his entire life. He really did live for it.'

Mr. Jaggard's fierce political views never interfered with working with others to do whatever needed doing, said labor council president Wayne Marston.

And Mr. Marston should know. He ran as an NDP candidate against Mr. Jaggard in the last federal election.

'Bob, without a doubt, was a selfless campaigner and he lived his beliefs. Bob always promoted others and didn't take kudos himself ... He always worked from his heart.'

And anyone thinking Mr. Jaggard's impact lessened when he retired three years ago need only talk to Paul Kebic, president of ATU Local 1585, the sister union to Mr. Jaggard's former local.

'During the 1990 union negotiations, I was in contact with Bob constantly,' Mr. Kebic said. 'His loss will make a huge difference.'

Mr. Jaggard, one of 14 children, is survived by his wife, Patricia.

 

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More from the Spec (1994)

Bob Jaggard An original; [Final Edition]
The Spectator. Hamilton, Ont.: Mar 17, 1994. pg. A.8


1994 The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved.
One of the real strengths of any community is the interesting and caring individuals who live there. Such a person was Bob Jaggard, the Don Quixote of Hamilton politics, who died Tuesday.
He was a man of his community, his city and the world. His dream - which many considered an impossible one - was a better world, which he saw coming only through Marxist-Leninist doctrine. As a member of the Communist Party of Canada for 25 years, he never wavered from his beliefs.
In an interview during last fall's federal election where he was running against powerful Sheila Copps - and, typically, sporting his familiar gold pendant showing a profile of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin - he told the Spec's Emilia Casella: "Communism is not a dirty world. It's only a word that scares people who have really got it - I'm talking about money." Bob Jaggard always had style.
There was also the substance of a life devoted to his beloved Beach Strip community and his union, Local 107 of the Amalgamated Transit Union. He led the union for 12 years, including the tough strike of 1982. He retired from driving a trolley on the Barton and King Street runs in 1988. And while it was difficult being a communist during a period dubbed the 'fall of communism,' Mr. Jaggard continued to espouse the causes of world peace and environmental issues.
While some may interpret that as tilting at windmills, we see it as a concrete expression of his humanism. It is a legacy to be proud of and we join Mr. Jaggard's family and friends in mourning his passing.

 

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Bob Jaggard story is record of labour, political activism

Lee Prokaska. The Spectator. Hamilton, Ont.: Feb 11, 1997.

1997 The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved.

The story of Bob Jaggard, a colourful figure on the city's labour and political scene for many years, will be in print sometime this spring.
"This is not a standard biography in the sense that it won't be a big glossy volume," said Rob Kristofferson, a researcher with the Ontario Worker Arts and Heritage Centre which is producing the bio.
"What I'm doing, really, is recording oral history."
Jaggard, longtime head of the city's bus drivers' union and a perennial Communist Party election candidate, was also a community and social activist. He died almost three years ago.
Heritage centre executive director Mary Breen hopes Jaggard's story will mark the start of a series of profiles.
"We hope to profile ordinary people around the province who were dedicated and made a difference in the labour movement and their community as a whole," Breen said. "This is sort of a pilot to show that this type of thing is worth doing and can be done on a shoestring."
The project will cost about $4,500. Jaggard's widow, Pat, has put up some of the money, with donations coming from the community.
Breen says the centre needs about $300 more in donations to produce the first 100 booklets.
Wayne Marston, president of the Hamilton and District Labour Council, lauds the project, which will record local history that might otherwise be lost.
"In the labour movement, we have a tendency to tell a lot of stories, but we don't write them down," Marston said. "This is an important opportunity to capture the contributions of working people to the community, both in terms of their contributions to labour and their artistic contributions."
The idea for the biography, which will be about 30 pages long, came from Pat Jaggard.
"I was helping her archive Bob's papers and she had in mind to do something to record his life," Kristofferson said of Jaggard's widow.
"We settled on this format, and in the end, I think it's a good one -- people would actually read something of this length," he said. "It will be accessible to so many more people because it's not a big, glossy expensive book."
The biography will start with a four-page overview of Jaggard's life by Kristofferson.
The rest of the booklet explores five areas of Jaggard's life: Local 107 of the Amalgamated Transit Union; the labour council, the Keep Hamilton Clean Committee; the Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee and the Communist Party.
Kristofferson says he acted as a "conduit," recording the oral history of Jaggard provided by those who knew him well in each of the five areas.
"A strong sense of his personality consistently comes across in all the different areas of his life," Kristofferson said. "He was a very dedicated person who was willing to give of a lot of himself to help others. He didn't do things half-heartedly.
"And it shows that ordinary people can really affect their world," he said. "You can make a difference and you can inspire other people as well."
Lee Prokaska is a Spectator workplace reporter
Credit: The Spectator

 

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Jaggard's work as unionist chronicled: Workers' centre collects local labour history

Carol Phillips. The Spectator. Hamilton, Ont.: Jun 21, 1997.


1997 The Hamilton Spectator. All rights reserved.
It's the story of a working-class man and how he helped make his community better.
But it has also become the first step in recording this city's and this province's rich labour history.
Do Something About It: The Bob Jaggard Story is a 32-page oral history of the late Hamilton unionist and community activist published by the Ontario Workers Arts and Heritage Centre, located in the old Custom House on Stuart Street.
One hundred books have been printed, selling for $5.35 each. The proceeds will go to the next oral history the centre publishes.
The rich, personal stories of the labour movement are usually told over a beer, but rarely have they been documented. The Jaggard book is the centre's attempt to begin collecting local and provincial labour history.
"We want to tell these stories because they are inspiring and they are the record," said Mary Breen, executive director at the centre. So much has happened in the last 50 years that time is of the essence as the men and women who were part of the labour movement are now aging.
The book launch on Thursday evening drew Mayor Bob Morrow, NDP MPP for Hamilton Central Dave Christopherson, and Hamilton & District Labour Council president Wayne Marston, who came to pay homage to the man who lived by the motto: "When you believe in something strongly, you have to go out and do something about it."
All three men had anecdotal remembrances and praise for the man who was once president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 107, leading his troops through the Hamilton Street Railway strike of 1982.
Marston remembered Jaggard leading unionists in a march through an Eaton's department store in the early 1980s as a union drive was going on. Morrow remembered Jaggard's work on the Beach Strip, fighting city expropriation plans and organizing community events to bring residents together.
For Jaggard's widow, Pat, the book is the culmination of her dream to see his legacy recorded for generations to come.
She initially approached the centre with his archival papers, looking for a way to record his life.
"I want people to know that an ordinary human being can do a lot of things for humanity."
The evening was a chance, three years after Jaggard died at the age of 65 from pulmonary fibrosis, to reminisce about a union man of strong principles.
"He was a guy that if he would knock on the door and you wouldn't open it, he would keep knocking until it did open," said John Morrow, who served with Jaggard on the HSR union executive and knew him since 1957.
The book, researched and written by Rob Kristofferson, is a collection of oral histories from people who remember Jaggard in his different capacities -- with the Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee, the Keep Hamilton Clean Committee, the union, labour council, and the Communist Party.
For information, call the centre at 522-3003.

 

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When you believe in something strongly, you have to go out and do something about it

From the book, Do Something About It: The Bob Jaggard Story
I tried to contact the books author, Rob Kristofferson, but I couldn't locate him, however, the isn't copyright protected.
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Introduction
"When you believe in something strongly, you have to go out and do something about it."
Bob Jaggard, 1972
Bob Jaggard framed his life of social activism with this simple motto. "Bob was a very all-round sort of guy," explains long time friend John Ball. "There wasn't anything of a social issue where people were taking it in the neck that Bob didn't try to get a hold of. He would fight for these things." The memorials by a number of Bob's friends and associates, after his prema¬ture death at the age of 65 on 15 March 1994 from pulmonary fibrosis reflect this. "Bob took his humanistic convictions seriously. His energy will be missed," wrote one friend. Paul Kebic of the Amalgamated Transit Union argued that as union presi-dent Bob "helped to lay the foundation for labour respect at the Hamilton Street Railway... He will be remembered as a man willing to give part of himself for the good of others." Ontario's then-Minister of Education, Richard Allen, called him "a dynamic presence in the labour movement and in the commu-nity. He was a great encouragement to many and really worked for what he believed in." Canadian Auto Workers Local 504 retiree Tony McNulty claimed Bob "was one of the most sincere men I've ever met. He was ready to assist anyone with a problem. He was a great humanitarian... Social action was his entire life. He really did live for it."
The seeds of Bob's social action were sown early in life. He grew up on Burton Street off Wentworth Street North in the heart of the city's industrial North End during the 1930s. Life was not easy for the Jaggard family. Money was in short supply. Bob's mother had to work hard to stretch the wages her hus-band William made as a Firestone worker to provide for her husband and fourteen children. Catastrophe struck when Bob's mother died when he was just four. As the second youngest in the family, Bob remembered that his father's long hours at work meant that domestic responsibilities fell to the children, especially his older sisters. When times got really tough, the family turned to social assistance. These years of struggle and economic hardship led to an atmosphere of sharing in the home. It was in this climate that Bob's belief system formed. "I felt I was charged to fight for working people," he explained. "Ever since I was a kid I had the urge to fight for the underdog."
Bob's adult activism began in 1952 when he became a bus driver for the Hamilton Street Railway - a job he would retire from 36 years later. He soon became active in the union, Local 107 of the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU). In the late 1950s and early 1960s he learned the ropes first as a union table officer, then as a member of the bargaining committee. By the mid-1960s he was also working for the New Democratic Party. But his political development did not stop here.

Two key developments soon helped define his political beliefs. First, he became involved in the Fight Back campaign against the United Steelworkers of America raiding of the red-branded International Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union (Mine Mill) in Northern Ontario in the early 1960s. He saw this raid as self-defeating: "That was dividing workers. I couldn't understand that." He worked hard passing out leaflets and talking the matter over with Hamilton Steelworkers. The cam-paign also brought him into contact with a number of left-lean-ing activists who were fighting to save Mine Mill. Bob began talking about the issues with them and reading any progressive literature he could get his hands on. A meeting with legendary Canadian Communist Tim Buck swayed Bob further to the left. However, nothing did more to cement his commitment to socialism than a trip to the Soviet Union in May 1968. A tour of industry and working life in Moscow, Leningrad and Riga convinced him that socialism could work. "I went there as a sober person," he said. "I saw and heard with my own eyes and ears that people were satisfied with the way things were."
Once back in Hamilton, Bob quickly joined the Communist Party of Canada (CPC), a move that focused his social activism for the next 26 years. He launched his first political campaign under the banner of the CPC in 1972 in Hamilton West. By 1978 he had run in five elections, mostly in Hamilton East, losing each one by a large margin. Asked by a Spectator reporter if this dispirited him, he replied: "In my opinion, it is in no way futile... I'm not discouraged. We are out to change ideas and attitudes and the only way to do that is to present the party's policies and platforms." Bob used the media and community attention gained by his campaigns to promote such wide-ranging issues as non-profit housing, public day care for children, and publicly-run nursing homes system for the elderly. He also campaigned fiercely against the Goods and Services Tax, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Red Hill Valley Expressway and the closure of such Hamilton industries as True Temper, Otis Elevator and Firestone. By the 1980s, Bob was well known as the veteran political candidate for Hamilton East. He maintained his political momentum until the end, running in Hamilton East against Sheila Copps in the 1993 federal election.
Secure in a political ideology that advocated fighting for workers on all fronts, Bob cast the net of his social activism widely. In the late 1970s he became president of his union, a position he held on and off for the next 12 years. Many Hamiltonians will remember him as standing firm against Hamilton-Wentworth Regional Council's attempt to undo the union's cost-of-living allowance (COLA) by leading the record 93-day bus strike in the summer of 1982. Even after he retired from the HSR in 1988, Bob stayed in office two more years, handling grievances and ironing-out the union's new "wind-down" system of retirement.
Through the Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU), Bob also served as a delegate to the Hamilton and District Labour Council (HDLC) for well over two decades. Here, he and others worked hard to bring the views of left-leaning workers before the Council. Thousands of Hamilton unionists will remember him best, though, for the major role he took in organizing Hamilton's Labour Day Parade for over twenty years.
Bob's activism did not end here. He believed that capitalism did not just hurt people, it also hurt the planet. To this end he became active in a number of organizations concerned with the preservation of our environment. He was a member of both the Keep Hamilton Clean Committee and the Save the (Red Hill) Valley Committee. Closer to his Beach Boulevard home, he acted as a guiding force behind the Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee. He was also a tireless campaigner for world peace.
What follows is not a biography. Rather, it is a collective remembrance of Bob Jaggard's importance to Hamilton's working community through his involvements with a number of the organizations outlined above: the Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee, the Keep Hamilton Clean Committee, ATU Local 107, the Hamilton and District Labour Council and the Communist Party of Canada. Each section is based on interviews with individuals who knew Bob well in that sector of his life. I have transcribed these interviews and edited them to fit the limited space available. It is hoped that Bob Jaggard's activism will shine through when his story is told by those who knew him best and struggled beside him to achieve common goals. Taken as a whole, this collective portrait shows how one working person's deep commitment to social justice did indeed affect his world.

 

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From the book, Do Something About It: The Bob Jaggard Story, Chapter two.


Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee (HBPC)
ERNESTINE MASSIGNANI
Ms. Massignani is a long-time Beach resident, and has held various executive positions with the HBPC,
I first met Bob when he was a bus driver down here on Beach Boulevard. Right away I could tell he was a nice man. You couldn't find a better bus driver. If he would see somebody with parcels or something he would actually get up and help them. He was really one of the really good guys.
Shortly after I met Bob he joined the Hamilton Beach Preservation Committee and I joined soon after him. The committee had been around in one form or another for years, but it was in 1980 that Bob became very active in it. In that year Bob was vice-president of the committee under Jacqueline Foley. Then she stepped down and he was elected president. He stayed president for many years.
Bob's first big campaign with the committee was against a 1980 proposal put forward by the City of Hamilton to make the Hamilton Beach Strip a "Green Belt". The city began a property acquisition program. Bob started to fight them. We got a petition together of the people who didn't want to sell. Bob was always going to City Hall. Every week there was a meeting to go to.
The idea of community was important to Bob. That was the most important thing to him. He just loved living down here. He wanted to see the community stick together.
The committee decided to hire a private consulting firm to draw up plans for the Beach as a revitalized residential and commercial community. We used to have everything down here. You name it, we had it Dynes Hotel, an amusement park, a bowling alley, a butcher, a grocery store. This plan envisioned bringing it all back again. We presented it to the city. At first they agreed to it, but then they changed their mind. But we kept pushing and eventually the city changed their mind.
After this Bob worked through the committee to do what he could to help promote neighbourhood togetherness. He started a paper recycling drive to raise money for the committee. Every third Saturday of the month Bob would bring his Ford Bronco over here with a trailer on the back and we'd go up and down the streets. The people would leave old newspapers outside the door and we'd pick it up and take it uptown to a recycling plant on Ferguson Avenue. We got to know everybody up and down the Beach, because everybody put their paper out.
We did a lot of things to help raise money; we had dances, Halloween parties. Bob was there for all of it. We also started the Annual Beach Community Garage Sale. One year we put up flyers saying that on every second Sunday in July there was going to be a garage sale. When we had it, Bob would go from one booth to another collecting donations that would go to the committee. It was great. I think at the first one we had over 20,000 people come down. You couldn't drive down Beach Boulevard, you had to walk.
A little later the city approached us and said they wanted to build a new playground. They said if the community would put in $5500, they would contribute $11,000. We collected so much money from these various events that we gave the city over $7000. Without this the park wouldn't have been built or have all the swings and new equipment in it. We worked hard for that.
Bob also started a Clean-Up Day down here. Once a year he would hand garbage bags out to a group of volunteers and they would go down to the beach or up and down the street and pick up garbage.
I think Bob brought this community a sense of togetherness. I think there was a strong sense of community as long as Bob was alive. If you had a complaint or something all you had to do was call him. He had a saying: "N-O P-R-O-B-L-E-M." It didn't matter what it was, he would always say, "No problem." You could call him in the middle of the night - "No problem, I'll be there".
He did a lot for the Beach. I remember during the Green Belt battle he would tell people "just clean up, paint your house, we're staying." He was an optimist. But it paid off. Just look around - we're still here.