27 April 2005

Stratford newspaper employees
ratify new 3-year deals

Bargaining team successful in fighting off take-backs

IUE-CWA Stratford Unit | TNG Canada Local 80400

STRATFORD, Ont. — Guild members in three departments at the Stratford Beacon Herald have new contracts following a successful ratification vote yesterday.

The employees under the mailroom and composing room/job contracts at the newspaper and its fine printing division voted unanimously to accept their new deals. Employees under the editorial contract, which includes reporters, photographers and some editors, voted 85 per cent in favour of their deal.

The agreements mark two firsts. They are the first contracts since the former TNG Canada/CWA Local 30139 in Stratford merged with the much larger Local 80400, representing La-Z-Boy employees in nearby Kitchener, in the fall of 2003. It’s also the first time that the employees have agreed to three-year deals after operating with two-year contracts throughout their history.

The agreements call for wage increases in 2005 of 2.25 per cent (retroactive), 2.25 in 2006 and 1.5 in 2007. Editorial staff also will receive a small increase in premiums for split shifts in 2006, and a modest increase in mileage in 2007, bringing the rate to 36 cents per kilometre.

Among the new language in all three contracts is a sunset clause for discipline and suspensions, which followed a recent case in which management refused to remove a letter of discipline from an employee’s file.

The union also fought off attempts by the company to extend hours worked before overtime kicked in and to eliminate some shift and job premiums.

Negotiations began in November 2004 but stalled in January when the parties filed a joint application for conciliation with the Ontario Labour Relations Board. A few days later, employees voted nearly 100 per cent in favour of strike action. A one-day meeting in March brought about agreement on the three deals and employees held the ratification vote April 26.

“Employees are generally quite pleased with the final deals,” Stratford Chief Steward Steve Rice said. “But their vote for a strike back in January also shows they aren’t going to stand for company take-backs or unreasonable offers for wage increases.”

The number of Guild members at the family-owned newspaper plunged from more than 50 to 28 after it was sold to Quebecor-owned Sun Media (Bowes Publishing) in 1999.