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“Quebecor is an emissary for Quebec in the United States and it should treat workers the same here as it does at home,” argued Ken Zinn, director of strategic research for the AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labour federation.

The company's U.S. operations stand out as a non-union island amid a mainly unionized work force, according to Mr. Zinn. It has roughly 38,000 workers at 160 plants in Canada, the United States and 15 other countries. He pointed out that only 17 of Quebecor World's 80 U.S. plants are unionized, compared with nearly 60 per cent of its Canadian plants.

The AFL-CIO is also pressing Quebecor management to adopt a set of core labour standards wherever it operates in the world.

“Quebecor is a good employer that generally meets high standards, but it isn't consistent around the world, and one of those places is in the United States,” said Duncan Brown, Toronto-based vice-president of the Graphics Communications International Union. The GCIU is the largest of Quebecor World's unions, with 7,600 members in Canada and the United States.

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[ 05 December 2003: Message edited by: robbie_dee ]

My initial reaction to the story, though, was more along the lines of the following:

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Despite originating in the most progressive, pro-labour province of generally progressive, pro-labour Canada, Quebecor has absolutely no difficulty taking advantage of America's weak labour laws to break unions and oppress the workers down here. This doesn't surprise me, mind you. But it is illustrative.

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