Dear Members,

I am writing you about a radical change in the way that the Osprey chain does its business, which will affect you as an employee, either directly or indirectly.

The company has established two call centres – in Sarnia and Niagara Falls – to handle classified advertising, and reader sales and services. The changes take full-time jobs away from the communities, which have long supported their local newspapers, to boost Osprey’s profits.

The call centres offer low-paid work, usually on a part-time basis. At the two newspapers where the changes have already gone into effect, there is evidence of extremely bad service to readers and merchants buying ads.

The Guild estimates that as many as 100 jobs may eventually be lost at the nine Osprey newspapers where our union has members.

People wanting to buy an ad or find out why their paper didn’t arrive want to talk to someone they trust from their community, not a stranger who may not even know where their city is.

A local newspaper is not just about covering stories and events. It’s about being a strong part of the community. Newspapers are constantly under attack from other media outlets, particularly from the Internet nowadays. It’s very short sighted for a newspaper to cut itself off from its community base. If Osprey loses readers and advertisers, all departments will have their budgets cut.

What is the Guild doing about this?

In St. Catharines where the union has anti-outsourcing language in its contract, we are taking Osprey to labour arbitration over the issue. The hearing dates for this have yet to be set.

Meanwhile, earlier this month, TNG Canada/CWA sponsored a meeting in Sudbury attended by Guild Locals from Sudbury, North Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Kingston, St. Catharines, and Peterborough (which represents workers at four different regional newspapers).

The group decided to take joint action on the call centres and other Osprey-wide issues. It is now an active committee of TNG Canada/CWA operating under the title of “The Osprey Caucus.” Members of all Guild Locals in the Osprey chain will be asked to get involved in joint action to protect our rights.

You will be hearing more about our plans early in the new year.

Arnold Amber
Director, TNG Canada/CWA