Monthly Archives: September 2013

Attention: Ottawa Citizen Guild Members

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September 19, 2013

Attention: Ottawa Citizen Guild Members

ONG and the Citizen Bargaining committees met yesterday and

today. With the assistance of a conciliator from the Ministry of

Labour, a number of adjustments were made to proposals on both

sides.

We have agreed to meet again on October 8.

There are still outstanding issues that need to be discussed with

our members.

We encourage all members to attend the membership meeting

already scheduled for September 25 th at noon in the conference

centre.

If you are unable to attend the membership meeting, members of

the bargaining committee will be at the Guild office from 1 p.m. to

5 p.m. that same day. Please drop by with any questions and

concerns.

Rob Bostelaar, Debbie Cole, Lois Kirkup, Jeff Parks

ONG Citizen Unit Bargaining Committee

Bargaining Update

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To: ONG Citizen Unit Members Date: September 12, 2013

From: ONG Executive Committee Re: Bargaining Update

The ONG bargaining committee will be meeting on September 18 & 19

with Ministry of Labour Conciliation Officer Denise Small and the Citizen

bargaining committee in an attempt to negotiate a collective

agreement.

Although we have not signed off on any proposals as yet, we do have

agreement in principle with the company on several of their proposals,

and on one of ours. We discussed these in detail at our membership

meeting earlier this summer and they concern our pension, vacation,

pay schedule, layoff language and part-time hours.

We still have proposals outstanding with no agreement in principle, and

many of these are of vital importance to our members. These include

wages, benefits, length of contract and use of freelancers.

We are hoping that during these two days of meetings between the

Guild, The Ottawa Citizen and the conciliator we can reach agreement

on all of the outstanding issues and move forward with a new collective

agreement.

We will keep you informed of our progress.

Rob Bostelaar, Debbie Cole, Lois Kirkup, Jeff Parks

ONG Citizen Unit Bargaining Committee

Postmedia to close Kennedy Heights plant

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Source: mediaunion.ca

The Kennedy Heights printing plant will be put up for sale immediately and operations there will cease sometime in 2015, the union was told today by Paul Godfrey, CEO of Postmedia.

The company presented two possible options going forward. One is contracting out the work currently done at Kennedy Heights. The company has “entered into a contract with Transcontinental” to print papers effective early 2015, Godfrey told Local 2000 representatives.

The other option is the union and company reaching an agreement to open a new plant that would cost substantially less to operate than Kennedy Heights. Godfrey explained that the contract between Postmedia and Transcontinental will not go into effect if the company and union reach a deal before Nov. 18, 2013 that reduces costs at a new plant by 70-75 percent.

Our current contract language says “there will be no involuntary loss of employment of any regular employee during the life of the contract as a result of” contracting out.

Union officers will be consulting with our legal counsel and meeting with members to discuss our next steps.

The company said it was hoping to have further discussions soon.

Postmedia also announced today that it is selling the Calgary Herald building and land and will be contracting out printing beginning in November.