23 March 2005

Talks at CanWest daily
will likely go to 11th hour

Three unions would go on strike
to preserve early-retirement deal

Windsor Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30553

Negotiations to renew three collective agreements at The Windsor Star are expected to go down to the wire next month.

Mediation talks are scheduled for April 19-21 and both sides will be in a free position — when a strike or lockout would be legal — on April 22. The Joint Council that bargains on behalf of the three unions at the newspaper will be going into the talks heavily armed: it won 98-per-cent support overall in separate strike votes held Sunday.

Photo: James Thompson
James Thompson

James Thompson, president of the Windsor Typographical Union, says management at the newspaper, owned by CanWest Global Corporation, has done the same dance for years. "They don't get serious until the deadline looms."

The company is, once again, attempting to excise from the three contracts an early-retirement provision for employees with sufficient years of service to quit working at age 60 and for five years collect half wages and full benefits. At age 65, the employee is officially retired and collects a full pension.

Thompson says his 50 members who work in the mailroom "are determined to get what they want." They made that clear on Sunday, voting 100 per cent in favour of a strike mandate.

Members of the Canadian Auto Workers (which represents about 150 employees in reader sales and service, editorial, advertising and the business office), and the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union (with about 20 employees in the pressroom) are equally adamant they won't back down.

"Early retirement has always been a stickler," says Thompson. "We'll never give that up."

TNG Canada Staff Representative David Esposti says he is pessimistic about the situation in Windsor. Talks following expiration of the three contracts on Dec. 31 "didn't go well." Following two fruitless days of conciliation last week, a No Board report was issued.

Esposti says the company, aware that it has an aging workforce, made it clear during bargaining three years ago that it saw the early-retirement provision as being too costly. He says he believes the newspaper might dig in its heels this time around.

Thompson says the unions are asking for a three-year agreement, with wage increases of five per cent in each year. The company has offered a six-per-cent increase spread over five years.

Another sticking point might be benefits, says Thompson. Employees, who currently co-pay dental plan premiums, want the employer to pay the full shot. And the Star, which pays 100 per cent of medical plan premiums, is seeking a co-pay deal.