Dan D. Seguin photo

David Wilson (far right), staff representative with TNG Canada, has been assisting
the North Bay bargaining team.

13 March 2007

Workplace issues focus of talks
at North Bay daily

North Bay Newspaper Guild | TNG Canada Local 30241

Dan D. Seguin

Workplace issues dominated the opening round of contract negotiations at the North Bay Nugget, with progress being reported on several fronts.

Dan D. Seguin, president of the Local, says monetary issues, including wages, benefits, sick pay and bereavement leave, will likely be discussed in negotiations scheduled for a month from now.

He was buoyed by how things went during the two days of talks last week to renew the contract that expired on Dec. 31. "Overall, I believe the opening session was positive and productive for both parties and I hope we can carry that tone throughout," says Seguin.

Scheduling was a major concern for many of the Local's 83 members, who work in all departments at the Nugget. Seguin says consistency in pressroom scheduling, seniority and shift preference continues to be debated.

The bargaining team presented charts to demonstrate a senior employee's scheduling and sleep patterns over the course of one year.

"I'm really hoping that, in the near future, due to the physical nature of the job and natural aging processes, senior pressroom employees will have ... consistent start times and choice of shifts," says the president, himself a press operator at the Osprey Media-owned daily newspaper. "Although we haven't agreed on anything yet, I do believe the Nugget is seriously giving our proposal its due consideration."

The company readily accepted a proposal from the Guild on the editorial department's weekend scheduling. Bargaining committee member Brandi Cramer says editorial employees "had input on what they would like to see happen and a mock template was drawn up and provided to the employer." As a result, those members will now have a fair schedule and more weekends off.

Management's introduction of a modified work week concept, which won tentative Guild approval, allows for scheduling opportunities for both the employer and an employee. The work week would remain at 37.5 hours, but daily shifts could be more or less than the standard 7.5 hours. Either party can request a modified schedule, but both must agree on the arrangement. Either party could cancel the arrangement with two weeks' notice.

Seguin says both sides have also tentatively agreed to new language that allows an employee the right to refuse, without penalty, work assigned at other Osprey Media properties outside of North Bay, except to receive training.

The company has met strong resistance from Guild Locals at its other daily newspapers where it sought the unfettered right to move work and jobs to its non-unionized call centres in Sarnia and Niagara Falls. North Bay fielded a boisterous turnout in a five-city protest last year against the company's contracting-out policies.

Other measures tentatively agreed to last week include a company proposal to expand the use of temporary employees for special projects from four months to six; and a Guild proposal to remove overtime restrictions on the telemarketer classification, which affects one worker.

Seguin says the bargaining committee also introduced language that would expand 'bumping rights' across the bargaining unit, whereas they currently apply within departments only.

"There are other non-monetary issues still being discussed and we can hopefully resolve them at the next bargaining session," says Seguin.