Union activists rarely make it into the history books and when they do the picture is seldom flattering. In this new edition of A Class Act journalist Bill Gillespie confronts the myth.

This is the story of how Newfoundland and Labrador union members turned the nation, the colony and the province into the most highly organized jurisdiction in North America. Gillespie’s research reveals union losses and victories, their weaknesses and strengths and ultimately, their success. The narrative is illustrated with more than a hundred photographs.

Bill Gillespie is a retired award winning journalist and foreign correspondent with the CBC. He spent the first 15 years of his professional life as a journalist in Newfoundland, reporting for the CBC and hosting the TV current affairs program On Camera.

After covering Ontario politics, in 2001 Gillespie became CBC Radio's bureau chief in Moscow where he reported on President Vladimir Putin, travelled many times to Afghanistan to report on the American—led invasion and its aftermath, and to Iraq where he reported live from Bagdad's central square the day Saddam's Hussein's statue was pulled down.

Since leaving the CBC he has embarked on a new career making documentary films for the Canadian labour movement. He later coordinated a campaign by unions and public interest groups opposed to the Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.

William Gillespie's profile page