27 November 2006

Sudbury Star workers
overwhelmingly reject settlement offer

Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild | TNG Canada Local 30232

By DENIS ST. PIERRE

Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild members await a return to the bargaining table after sending an emphatic message to Osprey Media and The Sudbury Star with an overwhelming rejection of an ill-advised contract offer from the company.

At a Nov. 20 meeting, union members voted 93 per cent against an "offer of settlement" from Osprey. More than 80 per cent of the Guild's 50-plus members, who work in all departments at the Star, attended the meeting.

The Osprey contract offer, made Nov. 16 at the end of two days of mediated talks, was recommended for rejection by the Guild's bargaining committee. Not only did the offer fail to address key Guild issues, it also included unacceptable concession demands by the company.

The Guild's major issues include job security/severance, pensions, wages and vehicle allowances.

The union's bargaining committee and rank-and-file members have expressed frustration and disappointment — although not surprise — at the company's attitude and conduct in negotiations to date.

For its part, the Guild has demonstrated tremendous goodwill and taken a conciliatory approach to the talks. Despite the fact its last collective agreement expired seven months ago, the union is giving the company every conceivable opportunity to avert a labour dispute.

For example, Guild members have refrained from a strike mandate vote, even though the contract has expired and negotiations are well into the mediation stage.

The union has taken this unprecedented approach to bargaining partly in recognition of the Star's tenuous position in the community. The company's image is in dire need of rehabilitation, due in large part to its atrocious labour relations history — six lockouts/strikes over the last three decades, most notably a disastrous, four-month lockout by Osprey in 2002-03.

In short, the Guild has made abundantly clear that it is genuinely committed to negotiating a tentative agreement acceptable to both sides, without having to resort to even the threat of a labour dispute.

Unfortunately, the company has yet to reciprocate. So far it has stuck to its autocratic approach, which spurns real dialogue and negotiation for "take-it-or-leave-it" final offers.

The company has maintained it is prepared to return to negotiations and that it also wants to avoid a labour dispute. Unlike the Guild, however, the company has yet to back up such words through its actions at the bargaining table.

Unless it is prepared to reciprocate to the good faith and genuine commitment the Guild has brought to negotiations, the Star/Osprey Media ultimately will be courting yet another black mark on its checkered history in Sudbury.

Denis St. Pierre is president of the Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild.