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Success at Toronto Sun required patience |
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Attitudes can change and people suddenly see the need for a collective
agreement, even in notoriously anti-union workplaces, says a Toronto
Sun editor who experienced the phenomena.
"For more than thirty years The Sun was the only non-union daily in
Toronto," says Brad Honywill. "People thought it would remain that way
forever but then one day in 2002 the vast majority of people working in
our newsroom voted to join CEP Local 87-M."
What happened?
"I guess the best way to explain the change is that one day a union
simply made sense," said Honywill, who has worked at The Sun for eight
years. "Attitudes about a union shifted because people perceived the
corporate owners of the paper, Quebecor, were no longer committed to
certain values.
"People no longer trusted the company to look after our interests."
The company began cutting back on editorial budgets, including staff,
in what was perceived as excessive attention to generating profit at
the expense of news gathering.
"People understood that jobs and budgets were being cut, that our
concerns were not being heard, because we had no voice," said Honywill.
"Having a union and a collective agreement is the only way you get that
voice -- at least one that management must pay attention to."
Another factor in changing people's minds was the knowledge that a
sister paper, Le Journal de Montreal, had long been unionized, and
journalists there enjoyed an excellent collective agreement.
"The contract at Le Journal certainly undercut any argument that
Quebecor would never accept a union or that the paper could not afford
one," said Honywill, who is an assistant city editor at The Sun and
sits as a rank-and-file member on the national CEP executive.
The keys to a successful organizing drive were understanding the mood
of the newsroom, support from every department and hard work by the
organizing committee.
"While we didn't run into any major problems, I wouldn't say the
organizing drive was easy, because it was hard work," said Honywill.
"What people should understand is that everybody has a right to be
represented by a union, but don't expect it to just happen --like most
good things, it requires effort."
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