Dave Dale, president of the North Bay Newspaper Guild, says a "strong majority" of his 70 members ratified a three-year deal late last week.
Bargaining began almost a year ago to renew the collective agreement that expired at the end of December 2009. Quebecor's Sun Media, the newspaper's owner, has been cutting staff across the chain, outsourcing work and targeting benefits.
"We got the best deal we could get at this time with this employer," says David Wilson, the CWA Canada staff representative who was involved in the negotiations.
He notes that part-time production workers "did very well because they were the most vocal."
Part-timers in the mailing department achieved an increase of one dollar an hour, plus a $200 signing bonus, says Dale. Wilson adds that inserters in the mailroom won a 10-per-cent increase in severence pay.
Overall, the contract contains no salary increase in the first year, one per cent in the second, and 1.5 in the third. "Full-time workers," says Dale, "got a $400 signing bonus which makes up for the zero-per-cent increase in 2010."
"It's good the negotiations are over, but we all have a sour taste in the mouth from the loss of benefits and sparse increases for full-time staff," says Dale.
He adds that "mileage went up a bit to 41 cents a kilometre this year and 43 cents in 2012. Unfortunately, gasoline price increases will eat that up quite quickly."