Day 192 - 27 Nov 95 - Page 13


     
     1        there.  And then somebody said, well, why do you want a
     2        union here?  I said, 'For respect, dignity and job
     3        security.' And they said, 'Who doesn't give you respect?'
     4        I said, 'The managers don't.'  And I said, 'I'm sure that
     5        some of you must agree with that.'  Then Cam piped up and
     6        said, 'What managers?  What don't you like about
     7        them?' 'I've already tried to tell you,' I said, 'and it
     8        hasn't worked.' And he says, 'Well, why don't you meet me
     9        tomorrow after school?' 'Nope, sorry, I'm busy,'
    10        I said. 'Cam, why don't you get back to me about this?'
    11        Because he always told people to get back to him about
    12        things.  So I sort of turned it around.  It was beautiful.
    13
    14        "Then he started talking about full-time benefits, and how
    15        they have packages for part-time workers, and one lady
    16        said, 'What package?  I've been working here for a year and
    17        I haven't seen any benefits.' So then he says, 'Get back to
    18        me about that.' It was sort of a stupid meeting.
    19
    20        "All the way through this I was in school.  I had two jobs;
    21        one after school and then McDonald's on weekends.  I worked
    22        until 8 or 9 at my other job about three or four times
    23        during the week, and then I'd come home and I'd do union
    24        stuff for about two or three hours.  I'd be on the phone
    25        with the lawyers, and then I tried to do homework, but it
    26        didn't work.  I was too tired to do anything.  School
    27        suffered.  My marks dropped.  My social life took a new
    28        twist.  I started hanging around with my committee more.
    29
    30        "There were allegations of me locking people in my car.  In
    31        my car the locks don't even work!  There were charges of me
    32        intimidating this 300-pound guy."
    33
    34        Then over to the next page, halfway down the second
    35        column:
    36
    37        "Cam had all these juvenile cartoon drawings, I'm
    38        surprised that people didn't feel sort of insulted by the
    39        way that he presented the work atmosphere at McDonald's.
    40        It was like you were in grade one or two.
    41
    42        "We held a couple of committee meetings with a business
    43        agent from the union, a week before the vote.  We tried to
    44        do house calls, and spread literature out, and call people,
    45        and do whatever we possibly could to educate them and make
    46        them aware of what a union really is - in case they'd
    47        forgotten or management had twisted it in their minds.
    48
    49        "Rui was up here for that.  He headed a couple of meetings,
    50        from a week before the vote until the day before.  Those 
    51        all seemed to go very well, because he could talk to youth 
    52        on their level.  He became a friend.  He was there to try 
    53        to support people.  He always said: 'What it all boils down
    54        to is, do you personally want a union or not?  It's up to
    55        you.' He got people thinking for themselves.
    56
    57        "The night before the vote, the company organised a crew
    58        rally to motivate people to vote no.  Cam was saying a
    59        speech.  I got there late, and when I walked in the door
    60        Cam started stumbling over all his words.  I felt great.

Prev Next Index