27 March 2006

Local ready to strike to beat back
Osprey assault on job security

Kingston Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30204

Frightened and angered by Osprey Media Group's assault on unionized employees and attempts to degrade working conditions, Guild members in Kingston have drawn a line in the sand.

The bargaining committee, which has engaged in five days of fruitless talks since the start of 2006, now has a strike mandate when it resumes negotiations in April to renew contracts at the Kingston Whig-Standard that expired in January.

There was a strong turnout Sunday for a strike vote, with five of six "very militant" bargaining units voting 100-per-cent in favour of taking such action if necessary, reports David Wilson, the TNG Canada Staff Rep who has been involved in the negotiations.

It's a significant development for the Kingston Typographical Union, which has never struck the venerable daily.

"People," says president Debbie Newton, "really want job security, as well as improved wages and benefits." The union is asking for a four-per-cent wage increase in each of three years of a new agreement (management is offering one per cent), as well as improvements in eye care and dental benefits for its 90 members.

The Local is also pushing for a no-contracting-out clause in the wake of layoffs of six members in classified advertising and circulation after Osprey opened call centres in Sarnia and Niagara Falls to handle those jobs.

Whig management has tabled proposals that would permit unrestricted use of freelancers (a form of job outsourcing) and radically change working conditions in the newsroom. The paper wants to force Guild members to work 75 hours over two weeks, on a schedule determined by the editor. Staff could lose their entitlement to consecutive days, or weekends, off.

Newsroom staff continue to withhold bylines and photo credits to protest the company's attempt to take away their rights and job security. All 25 members of the editorial bargaining unit voted for the job action on Feb. 15, the same day that Guild colleagues at four other daily newspapers owned by Osprey Media staged protests against the company's job outsourcing to call centres.

The first round of layoffs last fall in Kingston and St. Catharines, and notice of impending cuts in Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Sudbury, led TNG Canada/CWA to estimate that up to 100 jobs could be eliminated at the nine Osprey dailies where the Guild has members in classified and circulation departments.

Osprey dominates the small-town Ontario newspaper market with its more than 60 publications, including 21 dailies and dozens of community newspapers.

Presidents of Locals at the St. Catharines Standard, Sault Star, North Bay Nugget and Sudbury Star report that hundreds of readers, advertisers and employees have signed cards pledging their support for the TNG Canada-sponsored Keep Our Newspapers Local campaign.

The Guild Locals, four of which are renewing collective agreements this year, are not going to let up on Osprey, which so far has eliminated only union jobs in its efforts to reduce labour costs and increase profits.