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Denis St. Pierre, President of the Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild,
says members have reconfirmed their rejection of concession bargaining.
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25 October 2006
Sudbury Star
next target
of newspaper
chain's
anti-union drive
Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild |
TNG
Canada Local 30232
Now that anti-union Osprey Media
has managed to head off labour disputes at four of
its daily newspapers in Southern and Eastern Ontario,
the battlefront moves northward.
The Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild is in the
vanguard of TNG Canada/CWA Locals fighting the company's practise
of laying off long-time employees and shipping their work to non-union
call centres in Sarnia and Niagara Falls, where poorly compensated
part-time hires handle classified advertising and circulation orders
for the chain's network of more than 60 small-market Ontario newspapers
with which they're not familiar.
The previous four-year collective agreement at The
Sudbury Star, which expired May 1, was reached after
a four-month lockout by Osprey Media in 2002-03. It
was the sixth strike/lockout at the Star in less than
three decades.
Denis St. Pierre, president of the Local that represents
more than 50 employees in all departments at the Star,
says they are headed for another round of bargaining
on Nov. 15-16, with the assistance of a mediator appointed
by the Ontario Ministry of Labour.
"At a meeting Oct. 17,
Guild members reconfirmed their commitment to their
bargaining team and to their priorities in this round
of negotiations, such as improved job security language
and significant improvements in wages, pension contributions,
vacation entitlement, benefits, shift premiums, mileage
rates and other monetary issues," says St. Pierre.
Last year, the company laid off nine pressmen and
began printing The Sudbury Star in North Bay, home
of The Nugget, where the North Bay Newspaper Guild
is gearing up for negotiations to renew its contract
which expires at the end of December.
Despite two days of conciliation in mid-October with
little progress on key issues for Guild members in
Sudbury, the company still has several demands for
concessions on the table, says St. Pierre.
"Members reconfirmed their longstanding rejection
of concession bargaining," he says. The company
has take-back proposals on issues including contracting
out, imposing an arbitrary and substandard commission
sales system, cutting sick leave pay, vehicle use,
automation and wage cuts in some classifications.
St. Pierre notes that Guild members also have vowed
not to be swayed from their priorities by the company's
unusual position of tabling wage proposals early in
the negotiations, even though key language issues have
not been addressed.
The contract at the Sault
Star, another daily newspaper
owned by Osprey Media, expired in August. The Sault
Ste. Marie Typographical Union is about to begin bargaining
with the employer on Nov. 1 and 2, but enjoys strong
community support in its efforts to preserve local
newspaper jobs. |