09 February 2005

ChronicleHerald aims to get rid of composing room

Halifax Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30130

On the same day Halifax Herald Ltd. won the Business of the Year award in Nova Scotia, management proposed a contract that would eliminate its compositors' job security, early retirement package and company contributions to their CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension Plan.

Add it all together and it would mean the end of the composing room at the 181-year-old family-owned Halifax ChronicleHerald. The bargaining unit's 12 members, whose 10-year contract expired on Dec. 31, 2004, are extremely angry at the company’s proposal and are looking at the options available to them.

“The company bought their jurisdiction 10 years ago with all of these things and now they want to take it all back,” says Darren Pittman, president of the Halifax Typographical Union. “About the only thing they didn’t propose was to come to our house and kick the dog."

It's strange behaviour from a company that was proud to win the provincial business award, as well as being named one of Canada's Top 100 Employers by Maclean's magazine in October. Organizations that make the annual list are graded in eight areas, including the physical workplace, work and social atmosphere, and health, financial and family benefits. The magazine listed the newspaper publisher's 'notable perks' as "Take your birthday off, with pay; convert unused health benefits into cash or RSP contributions."

"Many of the good things about working for the Herald that earned it a spot on that Top 100 list were benefits and improvements won by the union through collective bargaining over the years," notes Pittman. "Those benefits were eventually bestowed upon all employees, including managers."

The company claims that advances in technology have resulted in a lack of work for the composing room. The union maintains that the work was given to graphic artists in the non-unionized advertising department and that it should be returned to the composing room employees who have been doing the work for years.

Management also contends it is not obligated to honour an early retirement clause that “supersedes any and all future contracts” and that the job guarantee means any job at any rate of pay within the company. It effectively means the paper's compositors could be involuntarily moved throughout the company and required to take a pay cut so their salary matched that of non-union staff.

The compositors are seeking wage parity with senior reporters, which translates to an increase of 18 per cent over three years. The company does not want to give the compositors a pay increase above the cost-of-living formula contained in the old contract. That so-called increase yielded a total of $14 for each compositor over the last 10 years.

Management also wants to create a “lobster shift” that would end at 8 p.m. Day shift currently ends at 6 p.m.

The union will be considering its legal options to resolve some of these issues. Bargaining continues with two days scheduled for March 8 and 9.