Steve MacInnis, president of the Sydney Local, says they have served notice that, next time around, workers will be seeking better benefits.

18 December 2004

Nova Scotia Local wins improved contract — without a fight

Daily's new owner agrees to clause
that gives journalists control over bylines

Sydney Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30460

For as far back as anyone can remember, the Sydney Typographical Union has had to battle to the brink of strike to achieve a new collective agreement. Until now.

"I was pleasantly surprised with how it went," says David Esposti, the TNG Canada Staff Rep who helped the Local's bargaining team arrive at a three-year deal (expiration Jan. 31, 2007) that gives them a seven-per-cent wage increase. The membership gave its blessing to the agreement at a ratification meeting today.

"It's not the best deal but it is one we can live with," says Local president Steve MacInnis. The union "held the line" on wages and pensions, plus saw some movement on vacation and severance. But he notes they did not achieve improvements to sick leave that they had sought, so "we served notice that, next time around, we'll be going for better benefits."

The Sydney Local is unusual in that it represents workers in all departments at the Cape Breton Post, the island's only daily newspaper, which is owned and operated by Montreal-based Transcontinental Media.

The Local has two separate agreements — one covering the front shop that includes editorial, advertising, clerical and circulation, and one covering the back shop that includes pressmen and delivery drivers. Workers in the front shop accepted the deal with a yes vote of 85 per cent while those in the backshop accepted the deal in a vote of 80 per cent. The negotiating committee did recommend acceptance.

For many workers at the newspaper, says Esposti, the more significant improvement in the contract was the inclusion, for the first time, of language regarding journalists' bylines. One clause stipulates that an "employee's byline shall not be used over the employee's protest."

Esposti notes that journalists' control of their bylines was "a major issue in the last round but (former owner) CanWest wouldn't budge." Transcontinental Media, which bought the Cape Breton Post and 11 other newspapers from CanWest in 2002, not only accepted the bylines clause, but also agreed to another, which states that "substantive changes to material being submitted by an employee for publication shall be brought to the employee's attention whenever practical."

CanWest Global Corporation slapped a gag order on all of its print and broadcast journalists in the wake of byline protests at The Montreal Gazette in 2001 and at the Regina Leader-Post in 2002. A Quebec labour tribunal ruled in October 2003 that the Gazette journalists do have the right to control their bylines and to withhold them as they see fit. The ruling applied only to the Gazette, however, and CanWest has so far refused to extend the same byline rights and freedom of expression to the rest of its journalists.

Transcontinental is primarily a printer, but it does have a growing media stable that includes more than 100 daily, weekly or biweekly papers in seven provinces. Few of their properties are unionized, however, so Esposti says he was expecting the Sydney negotiations to be difficult. To his surprise, there are "significantly improved labour relations with the new employer."

"This agreement was reached at conciliation which, in itself, is unique because almost always the Local has had to take a strike vote and, following a no-board report, reach a mediation position (last step prior to strike/lockout)" before it could win a new contract, he says.

But this negotiation was not a cakewalk, says MacInnis. "This was our first time negotiating with Transcontinental. It was tough, no doubt about that."

The contract provides for increases of 2.5, 2.0 and 2.5 per cent over the next three years, a $150 signing bonus, and it's fully retroactive to Feb. 1, 2004, when the old agreement expired. Plus, the employer will beef up what it pays into the union-run pension plan. The company's weekly contributions, which currently range from $28.63 to $33.75, will increase by $5.

The bargaining team also secured improvements in bereavement leave, vacation entitlement and severance provisions, plus more money for mileage and night shift premiums.

MacInnis says sick time is a primary issue given that workers now receive only five paid sick days a year while the average in Nova Scotia is nine.

"As more and more workers are becoming primary caregivers for family members, this issue will continue to be the forefront of concerns for this Local," says the president.

As well, he adds, the company has given an indication that it wants to change workers from the ITU pension plan to a directed RRSP plan.

"They should expect stiff resistance on this issue," says MacInnis.