20 February 2006

More Guild members axed in St. Catharines

Cuts include composing room employees

St. Catharines Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30416

A fresh round of layoffs hit Guild members at the St. Catharines Standard on Friday, only two days after a noon-hour protest against Osprey Media's job outsourcing.

"We are devastated," says Brenda Halden, president of the St. Catharines Typographical Union. "This is outright union busting!"

Gone are four long-time employees in the circulation department and 10 who work in the prepress/composing room at the Osprey-owned daily newspaper. Osprey Media is shifting the composing room work to its non-unionized Welland Tribune plant.

"There were a lot of tears on Friday when they received the pink slips," says a furious Halden. "The years of service range from four to 29 for these members in the composing room. The four members in circulation were temporary employees who have worked full-time hours for years without any benefits. We still have an outstanding grievance/arbitration on file for this one."

The Local is grieving the latest layoffs, says Halden, adding that this brings to 22 the number of jobs that have been lost in three months. Membership in the Local has dropped to 21.

TNG Canada Staff Rep David Esposti says an arbitration hearing to deal with the fall layoffs is scheduled for March 7. The first round of layoffs that took effect just before Christmas decimated the circulation and classified advertising departments, in violation of a clause that prohibits contracting-out of work.

Now, says Esposti, the Guild is considering bringing an unfair labour practise charge against the company in connection with the composing room layoffs and transfer of jobs to a non-union plant.

Although Osprey Media has said layoffs chain-wide are due to cost-cutting measures, not one non-union job has been affected in St. Catharines, notes Halden.

Osprey has set up call centres in Niagara Falls and Sarnia, staffed by part-time, low-paid workers who handle reader sales / service (circulation) and classified advertising. It is those call centres that are the target of a TNG Canada-led campaign, Keep Our Newspapers Local, that launched a week ago, on Feb. 13.

More than 100 people turned out last Wednesday for a lunchtime information picket in St. Catharines, where the Local has the District Labour Council on its side in this battle. Simultaneous protests were staged at the Sault Star, Sudbury Star and North Bay Nugget.

Hundreds of Osprey newspaper customers and employees have already signed pledge cards in support of the Guild's campaign, and the cards continue to pour in. An electronic version of the cards can be sent from the campaign's web site at www.cwa-scacanada.ca/osprey.