Unionizing Retail: Lessons From Young Women's Grassroots Organizing in the Greater Toronto Area in the 1990s

The article chronicles the development of two retail workers' unionization efforts that took place in the Toronto, Ontario area in the 1990s. It examines the role that women labor leaders Wynne Hartviksen and Debora De Angelis played in organizing the drives and describes how their personal experiences working in low-wage and non-benefited retail jobs contributed to their beliefs as workers' rights activists. It also presents comments from both Hartviksen and De Angelis on topics such as fear exhibited by employees regarding being punished by employers for joining unions and their efforts to contact and recruit potential union members through mailings, phone calls, and personal interviews.