Union supporters picketed and leafleted the Markham golf course, where Bell Canada was sponsoring the Canadian Open golf tournament. A police barricade forced the protesters to halt about two-thirds of a mile from the event.

Francine Clément, a telephone operator who has worked at Bell in Montreal for 23 years and one of 40 unionists who came from Montreal, noted the "different generations" present. A range of unions was represented at the action.

"We’re entitled to that money. We’re not begging," said Ann Newman, a former CEP official and retired phone operator, to the crowd.

The CEP has been pressing for a wage increase for telephone operators at the company since 1995, arguing that the mostly women workers are substantially underpaid in comparison to technicians, who are overwhelmingly male. Operators earn around Can$35,000 (Can$1=US 63 cents) a year, almost $20,000 below the technicians’ base salary.

Supporters of the union’s case point to a 1999 victory for government workers. At that time, a federal court decision ordered the Canadian government to pay up to $3.6 billion to 230,000 current and former government workers represented by the Public Service Alliance.

Since 1993 the company has slashed the number of Bell Canada operators from around 5,000 to 400 by forming a low-paying joint venture called Nordia. The company’s call centers offer work for "half the wages, very little benefits and no union." said Alison, who used to work as a Bell operator before her job was eliminated in 1999.

The CEP represents about 25 percent of the claimants. On September 4, Bell agreed to pay out $178 million to 29,000 clerical and sales workers covered by the Telecommunications Employees Union. The offer was not made to the CEP.  
 
 
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