11 August 2005

ChronicleHerald composing room
preserved in 5-year deal

Halifax Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30130

The composing room has emerged intact after many months of sometimes acrimonious bargaining at the Halifax ChronicleHerald.

The 11 compositors in the bargaining unit are "still angry about being kicked around by the company," says Darren Pittman, president of the Halifax Typographical Union. But the five-year deal they signed yesterday "is one they can live with and it is a fair contract."

Going into negotiations after the contract expired on Dec. 31, 2004, management at Halifax Herald Ltd. set out to eliminate the compositors' job security, early retirement package and company contributions to their CWA/ITU Negotiated Pension Plan. It would have meant the end of the composing room at the family-owned 181-year-old newspaper.

The company stuck to its position over many long months of negotiations and backed off only at the 11th hour, says Pittman. During the one day of mediation on Aug. 3, the bargaining team informed the company that it was prepared to file bad-faith bargaining charges if the pension plan proposal remained on the table. The team also made it clear the "comps" were determined to defend their jobs through strike or lockout.

In the end, the company left the pension alone, tinkered with the retirement package and agreed to wage increases of 12 per cent over five years, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2005. Pay will go up 3.0 per cent in the first and fifth years and 2.0 per cent in the middle three years.

Three of the compositors eligible for early retirement within the next five years will forgo a lump-sum up-front bonus of $13,200 and instead receive an extra $20,000 spread out over five years. For the remaining eight comps, it's the status quo.

Another important win was the creation of a new job classification that moves more work into the composing room.

Pittman says the union gave up a small amount of extra holiday pay, but was able to preserve most provisions of the old contract, with some improvements.

Still, the compositors "feel let down in terms of loyalty to them" after having to do battle with a family-owned company for which they've worked for years.