22 December 2006

Lockout threat derails negotiations

Halifax Typographical Union | TNG Canada Local 30130

A management threat to lock out 14 press operators and industrial mechanics has halted negotiations with the privately-owned Halifax Herald Ltd. and left the union with no option yesterday but to apply for conciliation.

"We were taken completely by surprise" when the threat was issued at noon Tuesday, literally half-way through the scheduled three days of talks, says Darren Pittman, president of the Halifax Typographical Union. "Normally, we don't hear this kind of talk until conciliation or mediation. But we haven't even reached that stage in negotiations yet."

The company's lead negotiator threatened to lock out the pressroom staff if they continued to insist on keeping a retirement clause that has existed in the contract for 10 years, says Pittman.

The workers, who in October voted 100-per-cent in favour of giving their bargaining team a strike mandate, are angry and insulted that, after enduring a 13-year wage freeze, the employer is seeking major concessions.

Without a contract since July 1, 2006, they have been bargaining with the company for more than three months. Several contentious issues are still outstanding, says Pittman, including wages, jurisdiction, pension and retirement benefits.

Halifax Herald Ltd., owned by the Dennis family, publishes the Halifax ChronicleHerald, the highest circulation daily newspaper in the Atlantic provinces. It is also the largest independently owned newspaper company in Canada.

Initially, the company tabled a six-year deal with no wage offer. It has since proposed a four-year collective agreement with a $1,000 lump sum payment and annual increases of 1.66 per cent.

Pittman says the pressroom staff are "furious" that the company is treating them like this after having just been through a 10-year contract during which the operations were modernized and skills upgraded.

The ChronicleHerald in 2004 became the first newspaper in Canada, and one of only several in the world, to operate a WIFAG offset press, which greatly increased its use of colour.

“You have a group of employees who have worked very hard to learn to operate the new presses and, by management’s own admission, have done a fantastic job. Then we get to the table and the company treats them like this. It’s insulting and the guys have every right to be furious,” he said last month as they were heading into another round of negotiations.

The company is still seeking deletion of many long-standing clauses that would see the members give up some jurisdiction, holiday pay, retirement incentives, and the entire early-retirement package that has been in the contract for decades.

Management wants the workers to give up their early-retirement package in exchange for the company pension that they and the rest of the company already have.