04 May 2006

Conciliation sought after talks break down
at Osprey daily

Kingston Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30204

Contract talks at the Kingston Whig-Standard have broken down and the employer has applied for conciliation.

"We're standing our ground," says Debbie Newton, president of the Kingston Typographical Union. "This is what our members have asked for" and their negotiators aren't backing down.

Job security is a huge issue at the daily newspaper owned by Osprey Media. The company, which dominates the small-town Ontario newspaper market, set up call centres in Niagara Falls and Sarnia to handle circulation and classified ads, and started last fall to axe long-time unionized employees. So far, about half a dozen jobs have disappeared at the Whig.

At the St. Catharines Standard, where 22 Guild members have lost their jobs, bargaining is also under way. But little progress has been made there, too. Talks are scheduled to resume at the end of this month.

While the 90-member Kingston Local is determined to have contract language that would prevent job outsourcing, the company continues to insist on expanding its use of freelancers. That and an attempt to drastically change working conditions in the Whig-Standard newsroom has the 25 Guild members in the editorial department particularly incensed. Reporters and photographers have been protesting since mid-February by withholding bylines and credits.

Management has backed off its initial proposal that Guild members be forced to work 75 hours over two weeks, on a schedule determined by the editor. When talks resumed on April 27-28, the employer proposed redefining the work week as "normally" 37.5 hours, but with no guarantee of two consecutive days off.

The word "normally" is definitely coming out of there, says David Wilson, the TNG Canada Staff Rep who's been working with the Local since it began bargaining after the contract expired in January. And, he adds, Guild members are not going to give up consecutive days off.

The employer, says Wilson, is refusing to deal with several of the union's demands, including:

• The right to refuse to cross a legal picket line;
  
  
• Seniority bumping rights across departments;
  
  
• Consolidation of six bargaining units into three;
  
  
• Restore language to the contract that confirms employees who retire will continue to receive benefits.

On wages, the union is sticking to its demand for four-per-cent increases in each year of a three-year contract. Management has improved its offer from one per cent to 1.5, which is way below the cost of living, says Newton, and entirely unacceptable.

Other monetary issues still on the table include allowances for mileage and cell phones, and premiums for certain job classifications in the newsroom.

Noting that the bargaining team went into last week's talks armed with a strike mandate from a "very militant" Local, Wilson says the employer needs to understand that "we're very serious about our proposals. They must be dealt with."

The first round of layoffs last fall in Kingston and St. Catharines, and notice of impending cuts in Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and Sudbury, led TNG Canada/CWA to estimate that up to 100 jobs could be eliminated at the nine Osprey dailies where the Guild has members in classified and circulation departments. Four of those Guild Locals are renewing collective agreements this year.