Day 192 - 27 Nov 95 - Page 25
1 I want to make clear that when I did talk to them about it,
2 I did -- when you join a union, when you join a local
3 union, you must pay union dues; and at the time when I was
4 trying to sign people up, the dues were 16 cents per hour
5 for part-time employees, which is 24 hours or less hours a
6 week worked; and if you are full-time, it is two hours plus
7 $2 a month. But during the union drive, I guess the dues
8 and the constitution changed, and it was put up to 18 cents
9 an hour for part-time employees.
10
11 Q. But you explained to people, you said, about this, that
12 they would have to pay dues?
13 A. Yes.
14
15 Q. You did not speak to everybody individually, did you,
16 yourself?
17 A. No.
18
19 Q. So, how can you -- can you just take us back a little bit?
20 How did this process of signing up actually get launched
21 and how were people briefed on what they were to say?
22 A. There were two meetings done by union that took place
23 at my house. There was one, I believe, on 19th August, in
24 which there are only four staff people, including myself,
25 there, which was Sabina Iurilla, Shawn Darby and
26 Nicole Owen and myself; and then there was a meeting with
27 the -----
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Who were the people there --
30 Sabina Iurillo -----
31 A. Sabin Iurillo, Shawn Darby, Nicole Owen and myself.
32
33 MR. MORRIS: That was on the 19th?
34 A. 19th August 1993; and that was with Rui and -----
35
36 Q. What was the reaction of other people?
37 A. Pardon me?
38
39 Q. What was the attitude of the other people at that meeting?
40 A. Everyone seemed very confident that, you know, very
41 happy that we were actually doing something to help our
42 days at work.
43
44 That was followed by a meeting on August 25th, 1993, which
45 Rui Amorim, an organiser from the Service Employees
46 International Union attended with Mark Ortlieb.
47
48 Q. Who is Mark Ortlieb?
49 A. He is a director of organising for the Service
50 Employees International Union. We had to get his "OK"
51 before we started organising, I suppose. So at that
52 meeting they basically told us what we should say, which is
53 what I just told you guys a little while ago, about -----
54
55 Q. Sorry -- about how to -----
56 A. About how to talk to people about it, you know, make
57 them aware that, yes, you could be fired, but it is
58 illegal, make sure they know their dues, you know, that
59 type of thing; and we got the cards that day from
60 Mark Ortlieb.
