Convention delegates voiced strong support for the GCIU's new organizing program and Justice@Quebecor campaign.
The resolution on the Quebecor campaign demanded "in the strongest possible terms" that Quebecor "grant its workers the right to a free and fair process to secure their right to gain union representation through a card-check neutrality agreement."
As introduced by Washington 285M Pres. Edward Williams, Organizing Committee chairman, and Tony Correll of Los Angeles 388M, committee secretary, the resolution supporting the organizing program said that "organizing must be our first priority."
Organizing "brings respect, dignity, fair wages, and meaningful benefits to workers in all segments" of the printing and publishing industry, the resolution said. Because organizing helps to protect "bargaining power, hard won wages, benefits and working conditions, it is crucial that we increase our density in the core segments of our industry," the resolution said.
The resolution cited the efforts by Pres. George Tedeschi, Vice Pres. Duncan K. Brown, Organizing Director Bert Haft, Contracts and Research Director Alan M. Tate, and the General Board Organizing Committee to develop and implement a new comprehensive approach to organizing.
The new program includes substantial increases to the 50/50 organizing subsidies for local unions; an improved method of subsidizing locals for specific organizing campaigns; training and financing member organizers to help with local and international organizing campaigns; new techniques targeting multinational corporations; and the capacity to conduct member mobilization and leverage campaigns to support organizing efforts.
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| Photo by Herald Grandstaff |
| GCIU Lead Organizers Linda Goad and Mike Huggins answer delegates' questions at the organizing booth. |
The "unprecedented global campaign to bring fairness to workers at Quebecor World" included the first Global Solidarity Conference in Memphis, Tenn., last December. The meeting was attended by workers and their union representatives from 14 nations in Europe, the Americas, and Asia, the resolution noted.
The campaign has gained the support of Quebecor customers; religious and community leaders; politicians, including Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.); and trade unions and progressive organizations around the world.
The resolution noted that Quebecor has responded to workers' attempts to organize and bargain fair wages and working conditions by "intimidating, threatening, and terminating workers engaging in legal organizing activities." These violations of U.S. labor law have resulted in 22 National Labor Relations Board complaints thus far.
GCIU Vice Pres. Duncan K. Brown, who directs organizing activities for the General Board, said one of the planks of the GCIU's new organizing program used in the Quebecor and other organizing campaigns are strong in-plant committees. He said committee members are required "to step up to the plate" and be "publicly identified by the workers and by the employer in that plant as being a union organizer like Norma Rae. These people are true heroes."
Noting that negotiations on a global agreement already have been held with Quebecor with help from UNI, Brown stressed that the Quebecor campaign is "about truth and justice, and it's about human rights and labor rights. Everybody knows that workers united can never be divided. That's why we're going to win this campaign."
Delegates viewed two videos on the Quebecor campaign. The first was a documentary that provided a snapshot of the spirit and solidarity at the global conference in Memphis. The second, featuring Teamsters members led by Amy Masciola of the GCIU Contracts and Research Dept. during a postal reform conference, demonstrated the types of actions the GCIU and other unions have been conducting against the company.
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