Brown noted that Hollinger has always been "aggressively anti-union." He said that the victory at the Leader Post was significant for three reasons: "It's the first time part of one of these papers is unionized; the company is so aggressively anti-union; and the Labor Board let us organize just the press room."

Brown said that the trend in labor relations law in Canada "is to go to broader, all-employee units. In this case, the board let us organize just the press room. In explaining, they said they had to chose between a broader bargaining unit or a smaller unit that would 'give the people the right to unionize' so they went with the smaller unit, reaffirming the people's right to collective bargaining."

The unit of some 25 press workers was organized in December, but the employees have been interested in organizing for years, Brown said. He noted that in the past, the anti-union activity of the employer made the employees "nervous." He added: "This time, they were angry enough that the employers' tactics didn't work. The people wanted to have a voice in their working conditions and to be treated with respect."

Brown had high praise for Regina 75M Pres. Ron Benning, who "is still at the bench but actively promotes and supports organizing and was actively involved in this organizing campaign."

GCIU's program of training and mobilizing rank-and-file members for organizing has been very effective in Canada, according to Brown. He also noted that while companies are making greater profits, workers are falling farther behind in their real wages, and "people are fed up."

Brown said: "Basically people have had enough. They have not had wage increases. In fact, they've had their standard of living go down. They gave up wages and benefits in the bad times and now the good times are here and they haven't got it back. Companies are doing very well, but not only are the workers not getting back what they gave up, they're not being given enough to keep up with inflation."

He said that the Canadian office receives an increasing number of calls from workers wanting to organize their workplace. He added: "We have now turned the corner in organizing. There have been several organizing campaigns and several victories."

Brown called the victory at The Regina Leader Post "a major organizing victory in the newspaper sector in western Canada." He noted that negotiations between Local 75M and The Regina Leader Post was imminent, with GCIU Rep. Alan M. Tate assisting the local.

Brown observed: "We are expecting the company to come to the table and bargain and to have an agreement soon."

Bodie said that he and fellow Vice Pres. Norm Beattie – two of the organizers for the local – are receiving an increasing number of phone calls from workers in the Toronto area requesting help in organizing their workplaces. Ill treatment and low pay are especially galling, he said, for workers who have previously held jobs in organized shops.

Such was the case with Steve Andrews at General Distribution Ltd. Bodie said that Andrews was the catalyst at General Distribution. According to Bodie, Andrews had prior experience in a unionized workplace. So, when his coworkers began to complain about the low pay, the lack of a grievance procedure, and the lack of respect on the job, Andrews thought that they should unionize. Strengthened in numbers, they called Bodie.

"They called and asked me what the process was, and I told them," Bodie explained. He said that "about three days later, I got a call asking me to come out at lunchtime."

At the meeting, Bodie discussed the process for holding and winning an election, explaining the need for signed authorization cards from more than half the unit-eligible employees in order to demonstrate that there was strong support for unionization.

He gave the workers present at the lunch a stack of authorization cards, pressing upon them what was needed. When he left the lunch meeting, he took with him "a number of signed cards."

Bodie noted: "We had the number of cards we needed within a week and a half." He added that the process went so quickly that he "didn't have a chance to meet them all." Andrews and those who met together at the first meeting – the in-plant committee – knew the mood of their colleagues. They assured Bodie that the vote would be for the union.

"When people are ready they're ready," Bodie said. He said that he, Beattie and Local 500M Executive Board member John Lewrie usually work together on organizing campaigns and "are usually very cautious. But this group was ready."

He noted that the application for an election "caught the company unaware." But they did "put up a nice fight." The company held a captive audience meeting, once a sure way for employers to scare and intimidate employees. "We handbilled them as they left that meeting," Bodie said, adding, "and they were not scared."

The company also "put on other people" prior to the election, Bodie said. A list that started with 48 employees names grew, "but we won [the election] by 60 percent," he noted.

Bodie said that he had noticed a change in the attitude of workers in general. Just as it was with the captive audience meeting, employers' tactics of intimidation aren't working so well any more.

"We're getting them more angry than scared," he said, noting: "While money is always an issue, generally it is the way they are being treated" that makes them decide they need a union.

Proposals have been gathered and a negotiations committee is meeting with management to work out a first contract, Bodie said. He declared that as far as a first contract is concerned, "I'm optimistic."