In a very narrow vote, more than 1,400 workers at a Surrey call centre have voted in favour of joining the B.C. Government and Service Employees' Union. BCGEU spokesperson Stephen Howard told the Straight that 51 percent of employees of NCO Group, Inc. cast their ballot in favour of union certification in a February 15 and 16 vote supervised by the Labour Relations Board.

Howard said that workers' top pay is $11.50 per hour, and described the campaign as the largest private-sector organizing drive in B.C. in the past 20 years. In a February 28 news release, BCGEU president George Heyman said he was "extremely proud of NCO employees who showed great courage and determination".

When the previous owner, RMH Teleservices International Inc., owned the call centre, its managers projected anti-union messages on screens and walls throughout the workday, according to an LRB ruling. In 2004, the Straight reported that RMH managers also distributed Frisbees, bottled water, chocolate bars, note pads, and popcorn-filled sand pails, which all carried messages criticizing the BCGEU.

The LRB ruled that RMH "engaged in coercion and intimidation", which violated the law. As a remedy, the LRB ruled last October that the BCGEU could conduct an organizing drive in the company's parking lot over a three-month period. "In this way, employees will be given a fair chance to freely decide whether they want union representation," LRB vice-chair Ken Saunders wrote in a bulletin to workers.