by CHRIS BARRY

Name: Dominic Belleville

Age: 30

Occupation: Labour recruiter/organizer

Bio: Currently residing in beautiful downtown St-Eustache, this feisty dynamo has been in the service of the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees [UNITE] for the past six years. The local union organizing director since 1999, Dominic is the guy who goes around to area sweatshops trying to convince labourers - the majority of them being new immigrants - that it might well be in their best interest to join the syndicate rather than continue working in exchange for donuts. He says he doesn't earn a whole lot of money himself and rarely works less than 60 hours a week.

Does he generally recruit new members by bursting into factories barking "Workers of the world unite!" and waving membership forms around? No.

One method UNITE uses to research whether or not a company is ripe for unionization: "What we call 'trash diving.' Companies often just throw very important confidential papers - employee lists with home addresses, financial résumés and the like - into the trash. Pretty well the only time a company will voluntarily open their books to you is when they're in deep shit, when they truly aren't turning a profit and want you to know it."

Do managers generally give him a warm welcome when they first learn he's unionized their labourers? No. "They all hate me."

Has he ever been threatened? "Well, yeah, of course."

Approximately how many establishments will hire goons or otherwise resort to violence when confronted with the threat of unionization: "About five per cent."

One place you might not want to drop off your CV: One "really bad," and, for legal reasons, temporarily unnamed, sweatshop in the schmatta district just north of the Met. "We lost the first vote [to unionize] there because the boss and his goons were walking around inside with machetes threatening people. The owner was calling in whole families and filling out fake deportation papers to scare people."

Do language and cultural barriers make it more difficult to convince people that it's vaguely un-Canadian for their boss to be threatening to kill them? It could, but Dominic has a 12-strong crew of organizers under his wing, each of a different ethnicity, and between them capable of speaking whatever language you care to throw their way.

Something else he tries to get for his members: Respect. "Wage is important, but people need to be able to say no without worrying about getting fired. Believe me, in the industrial sector, and with immigrants especially, if you say no to the boss they will fire you."

Has he ever addressed an assembly of union members and had tomatoes thrown at him? Not tomatoes, but plenty of other things - including scissors. "Some members love you and others hate you. That's just the way it is."

Does he know where Jimmy Hoffa is? Apparently not.

Where you might find him boozin': Fouf

Last book read: Balance of Power(Star Trek: The Next Generation, No. 33) by Dafydd ab Hugh.

Musical preferences: Linkin Park, Our Lady Peace.

Words of wisdom: "We are never ready in life to make a decision, but these decisions must be made."

Comments? dimwit@openface.ca