2013.12.04 | NEWS RELEASE

 

Sun Media hits new low with latest round of Christmas cuts

OTTAWA — CWA Canada, the country's only all-media union, is calling on Sun Media to postpone its latest round of Christmas job cuts and abandon its misguided "restructuring" plan which is destroying once-proud local newspapers.

Sun Media announced today that it is cutting 200 more jobs, a quarter of them in editorial. It is the third round of layoffs in just over a year, bringing the casualty total to more than 1,000 workers.

"Each time we think they have hit rock bottom and there is nowhere left to cut, they bore down and find a new bottom," CWA Canada Director Martin O'Hanlon said. 

"Our newsrooms are already like ghost towns and I don't know how the smaller papers will even be able to cover basic local news anymore."

O'Hanlon said Quebecor-owned Sun Media is once again showing its disregard for the communities it claims to care about, throwing away local jobs and abandoning quality local news.

"The sad part is that these cuts aren't being made because newspapers are losing money — they are making money. It's because Quebecor wants to suck away as much profit as possible, in part to pay for the $20 million a year it's losing on Sun TV.

"So communities like Sudbury and North Bay have to watch their newspapers be slowly cannibalized to keep an ill-conceived and laughably bad TV network alive."

O'Hanlon once again suggested the company borrow a page from legendary investor Warren Buffett who has been buying newspapers in the United States and committing to quality local journalism as the key to success.

About CWA Canada

CWA Canada represents 7,000 workers at companies such as the CBC, The Canadian Press and daily newspapers coast to coast.

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For interviews or more information, contact:

Martin O'Hanlon
Director, CWA Canada
613-820-8460
mohanlon@cwa-scacanada.ca