By Yvonne Gordon

"Another exciting victory" is how Toronto 500M Vice Pres. Norm Beattie described the representation election at G.H.Q. Imaging Inkjet Productions Ltd. On April 16 the employees at the billboard printing company voted 30 to 27 to unionize under the Toronto 500M banner.

Beattie explained that the battle began in April 1998. One of the employees at G.H.Q. phoned the office to ask for information about organizing the plant. A meeting was arranged at the union office for the interested employees to meet with Beattie and Jim Bodie, also a Local 500M vice president.

When the two employees arrived at the Local 500M office, they told Beattie and Bodie that someone was in the parking lot watching the building. Investigation revealed that the "someone" was the plant manager, who had apparently heard of the employees' interest in the union.

Soon after that, one of the activists was terminated. The local filed unfair labor practices charges against the company and won the employee his job and backpay. However, during his termination, the union had secured employment for him and one other activist at Crown Cork & Seal, a union shop.

The labor board also gave Local 500M the right to go into the company and give a union presentation to the workers. Local 500M Executive Vice Pres. Frank O'Reilly accompanied Bodie and Beattie to the presentation. "Fear was rampant in the company," noted Beattie. He said most of the employees were "new Canadians," immigrants who feared losing their jobs.

"We had to escort some people into the meeting," Beattie said. He added that "very few questions were asked because there were a couple of management sympathizers there who kept trying to interrupt us."

Beattie said he was appalled at the condition of the plant. He said: "The place was a disaster area for health and safety. One of the emergency doors had pallets piled in front of it. The smell of fumes was highly toxic."

At that meeting, the organizers got "only a few cards" Beattie said, adding: "We spoke to a couple of people. They wanted a union but were very scared." Local 500M did not pursue the organizing effort.

Then, in early April 1999, a group of employees again phoned the union office. Beattie said that Bodie met with the group and explained the steps that had to be taken to organize. "Two weeks later," Beattie said, "they met with us and produced the cards needed."

"When we went back," he said, "the fear was gone – replaced by anger. They were tired of being told 'if you don't like your job, leave. We can get plenty who want your job.'"

Beattie said: "We got the cards, went to our lawyers, applied, and got a vote within five working days – as per the law. Jim [Bodie] and I handbilled the place a couple of days before the vote as did Executive Board members John Lawrie and Alfred Maillet, who handbilled the evening shift."

Beattie noted that they filed for an election on April 9 and had the election on April 16. The count was 30 to 27. Beattie said that the problems at G.H.Q. were indicative of a management mindset in Ontario. "As soon as the company gets wind that we're meeting with [the workers]," he said, "they terminate [someone] . . . and they try to instill fear in their workers."

He noted, though, that the "working-class people of Ontario see that with the right wing, [Premier] Harris government, a lot of their rights are being taken away, their employers are stepping on them, and they are fed up and not going to take it any more. They are saying: 'You can try to intimidate us, but we're not going to take it anymore.'"

Although safety was an issue at the plant, "justice and dignity were the major issues," Beattie said. He noted also that the employers had "misjudged their employees. They thought they could browbeat them forever. . . . There comes a point when fear gets displaced with anger."

The 65 new members of Local 500M now are awaiting a new contract. Beattie said that the company lawyer informed him that the company wants to negotiate. He said he was told that management will "respect their employees' wish to have union representation."