What It Meant to Work in a Waterloo Region Rubber Factory

This article is part of the series The Trials and Jubilations of Working in the Rubber Industry: Rubber Worker Storiesand is supported by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.

Do you dream of lifting 450 lbs. every five minutes? Would you enjoy an irregular work schedule that includes night shifts? Do you eagerly await the chance to blow black gunk out of your nose at home every day? I’m guessing not, and yet thousands of people in Waterloo Region took on jobs at rubber factories and tolerated th...