12 September 2005

Saskatchewan Local votes 96%
in favour of new deal

Saskatchewan Media Guild | TNG Canada Local 30199

Editorial department workers at the Regina Leader-Post have given a 96-per-cent thumbs up to a new tentative contract.

The four-year deal for the Saskatchewan Media Guild delivers annual wage increases of 2.5 per cent in the first and second years, and 2.0 per cent in the third and fourth years.

Anne Kyle-Bartlett, president of the 44-member Local, says the two sides went to the bargaining table early (the existing contract does not expire until Nov. 4). Settlement was achieved in two days of negotiations and came on the eve of CanWest Global Communications Corp., the Leader-Post's owner, confirming that the company would be spinning off most of its newspapers as an income trust. The ratification vote was held on Saturday.

Members of the Local will receive a signing bonus of $500 for full-time and $250 for part-time staff. Kyle-Bartlett says the Guild was also able to increase the salary grid for part-time/casual support staff by 17 per cent over the life of the contract, increase mileage rates for staff using their vehicles at work as well as make some minor changes to language. Plus, she adds, "the four-year deal will provide some stability in the newsroom."

"I am delighted that we were able to achieve a negotiated settlement that provided for across-the-board wage increases and also provided a bump up in the grid for our part-time and casual support staff.

"It would not have been possible without the hard work and long hours put in by our bargaining committee: Bill Allan, Barb Pacholik-Hamel, David Freeman, Karen Schlamp and Chris Harbron," she notes.

Kyle adds her "special thanks" to TNG Canada/CWA staff representative Dan Zeidler, "who sat through our initial bargaining proposal meeting, and then worked his magic with the company negotiator both at the table and behind the scenes."