Category Archives: CWA/SCA Canada
Sun Media continues death by 1,000 cuts, abandoning quality jobs and journalism
Death by a thousand cuts continues apace at Sun Media, which today announced it is shuttering 11 titles and axing 360 jobs.
CWA Canada, which represents workers at several Sun Media newspapers, urged the company in a news release to reverse its self-destructive plan and to instead focus on quality local jobs and journalism to boost profits.
Director Martin O’Hanlon said Quebecor-owned Sun Media, which last November cut 500 jobs and closed production plants in Ottawa and Kingston, is pursuing a slash-and-burn strategy that will only lead to a slow death.
In her note to employees today, in a spectacular example of doublespeak, Sun Media COO Julie Tremblay trumpets that Sun Media will “continue to focus on great journalism.”
“And how will they do that?” asks O’Hanlon. “By laying off journalists!”
“I’m still waiting for someone to show me how you produce better journalism with fewer journalists. To suggest it’s possible is either delusional or dishonest — neither bodes well for Sun Media’s fortunes.”
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2013.03.18| Departing Quebecor chief leaves ‘sorry legacy’ of gutted newspapers
2012.11.13| Sun Media’s cuts, closures a ‘major blow’ to Kingston Local
2011.11.29| Quebecor’s Sun Media eliminating 400 jobs
2008.12.16| Union deplores Quebecor’s massive job cuts
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O’Hanlon maintains that cutting jobs is a suicidal strategy that only hurts quality and does nothing to attract readers or generate revenue.
He notes Quebecor talks a good story about its commitment to the communities it serves, but everything it does — from cutting local jobs to producing sub-standard local news — is bad for those communities.
Five CWA Canada members (of Local 30248 – Peterborough) lost their jobs last month, when Sun Media shut down the 152-year-old Lindsay Daily Post. It is among the 11 closures announced today. A few more of the union’s members, reporters at other Sun Media papers, will see their jobs cut.
All of those members will have access to CWA Canada’s $500 training/education grant and whatever other support the union can provide.
Sun Media is to kill off its free 24 Hours newspapers in Ottawa, Calgary and Edmonton as well as community publications in Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. It describes the closures as “a series of initiatives to enhance operational efficiencies” and expects to save $55 million.
O’Hanlon once again suggested that Quebecor borrow a page from legendary investor Warren Buffett who is busy buying newspapers in the United States and committing to quality local journalism as the key to success.
Meet the striking Saint John 7
The striking Saint John seven announced today they are expanding their fight for a fair deal with their employer, Halifax-based Maritime Broadcasting System. They are asking listeners and advertisers of the Halifax MBS Radio stations, FX 101.9 and HAL-FM, to boycott the stations until the strikers reach a deal with the company.
Click link to read the entire story
New contracts at Victoria Times Colonist reflect Glacier Media’s devotion to quality journalism, local production
Source: cwa-scacanada.ca
Negotiations that spanned 18 months and two owners have finally produced new contracts for two CWA Canada Locals that represent workers at the Victoria Times Colonist.
The four-year agreement, which will expire Jan. 2, 2015, includes wage boosts of 1.0 per cent in 2013 and 1.5 per cent in 2014, plus a $250 signing bonus in lieu of retroactive increases.
“We lost nothing,” says a jubilant Chris Carolan, president of the Victoria-Vancouver Island Newspaper Guild (VVING).
“While the gains are modest,” says CWA Canada Director Martin O’Hanlon, “the fact that they avoided concessions in the current newspaper climate is very significant.”
The previous contract, which expired at the start of 2011, had been negotiated when the daily newspaper was owned by Canwest. The chain’s newspapers were acquired by Postmedia Network when Canwest became insolvent. Negotiations with Postmedia began in May 2011, but reached an impasse last September when the employer attempted to reintroduce significant items the joint bargaining council believed had been removed.
Shortly thereafter, Postmedia sold the Colonist to Glacier Media, which publishes more than 60 community newspapers, primarily in Western Canada.
Carolan says it became obvious after a meeting earlier this year between the three unions and Orest Smysnuik, the company’s chief financial officer, that Glacier Media was interested in reaching a fair agreement that both sides could live with.
When bargaining resumed, “we accomplished more in three days than we did in the previous 18 months, which tells us our new employer is eager to grow the company at the local level, rather than offshore,” says Carolan.
Members of VVING, which represents 153 employees in editorial, advertising, circulation, maintenance, information technology and business departments, voted 96 per cent in favour of ratifying the tentative agreement. Members of British Columbia Local 30403, which represents 35 workers in the mailroom, voted 92 per cent in favour. Members of CEP, which represents workers in composing and the pressroom, also voted with large majorities to accept the deal.
Carolan and O’Hanlon had expressed their “cautious optimism” in a news release welcoming the ownership change a year ago, saying they were “heartened by statements Glacier has made in the past about quality journalism.” Glacier had lamented in an annual report that “the demise of many North American newspaper and media companies has in part been self-inflicted. The Internet has been a factor, but the reduction of content and quality through continual cost cutting has played a significant role.”
Paul Godfrey, CEO of Postmedia, which has slashed jobs and sacrificed quality at all of its metro dailies in order to service a huge debt load, told the Globe and Mail the Victoria paper’s union rules were also a motivator for the sale. (Their contract prevents outsourcing services such as pagination.) He claimed that employees hadn’t bought into the company’s “Digital First philosophy.”
Carolan countered at the time that his members simply objected to the centralization of pagination in Hamilton and ad production in the Phillippines: “We bought into Digital First, we just didn’t buy into shipping our jobs to Manila, Dominican Republic, Hamilton, Calgary, etc.”
He observes now that “the atmosphere for the most part at the negotiating table with Glacier was a pleasant surprise compared to the earlier negotiations when Postmedia was our owner.
“We also understand that our industry is changing at a rapid pace and we believe we can work with the company within the parameters of our newly signed four-year collective agreement to address any concerns that may occur.”
Victoria Times Colonist Employees and Glacier Media Reach 4-Year Tentative Agreement
A Tentative Agreement has been reached between the Victoria Joint Council of Newspaper Unions and the Times Colonist.
The Joint Council and Company agreed on a four year contract which will expire on January 2, 2015.
There were no concessions.
Term:
2011 0%
2012 0%
December 1, 2012 $250.00 signing bonus
January 2 2013 1%
January 2, 2014 1.5%
All Unions within the Joint Council will hold ratification vote meetings this week.
MEDIA ADVISORY – CWA Canada urges Postmedia to invest in quality, not slash jobs
OTTAWA – CWA Canada is urging Postmedia to follow the example of legendary billionaire investor Warren Buffett and invest in quality journalism rather than slash yet more jobs.
Postmedia revealed today that it is cutting dozens of editorial jobs at some of its newspapers as part of broader plan to improve its financial outlook. The company continues to struggle with declining print advertising revenue and a heavy debt load.
CWA Canada, the union that represents journalists at Postmedia newspapers the Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette and Regina Leader Post, maintains that cutting jobs is the wrong strategy and will only make things worse in the long run.
“We understand that Postmedia is facing financial challenges, but we believe the company can only turn things around by investing in its product rather than by cutting jobs,” CWA Canada Director Martin O’Hanlon said. “If we’ve learned anything over the last few years, it’s that cutting jobs only hurts quality, and that does nothing to attract readers or generate revenue.”O’Hanlon said Postmedia should borrow a page from Buffett who is busy buying newspapers and committing to quality journalism.
O’Hanlon also emphasized that the cuts carry a big personal and community toll. Dozens of fine journalists will soon be out of work, hurting them, their families and the communities in which they live and contribute.
CWA Canada is the country’s only media-specific union, representing nearly 7,000 workers at companies such as the CBC, The Canadian Press, Reuters, and newspapers coast to coast.
For more information, contact:
Martin O’Hanlon
Director, CWA Canada
(613) 820-8460
Conservatives launch new attack on unions with ‘grossly unfair’ public disclosure bill
CWA Canada is calling on members to help fight passage through Parliament of a private member’s bill that would introduce onerous reporting rules for unions that are not required of other dues-deducting organizations.
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) says Bill C-377 in its current form would be the “most costly and discriminatory bill faced by the labour movement” in this country.
Every labour organization and all unions, including locals, branches, councils, lodges, etc., would have to disclose detailed financial information, salaries, supplier contracts, loans, accounts receivables, investments, spending on organizing, collective bargaining, education, training, lobbying and all political activities. The information would be made public on a Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) website.
“This bill is grossly unfair and hypocritical,” says CWA Canada Director Martin O’Hanlon. “It’s just plain wrong to single out labour groups for special scrutiny, especially when even taxpayer-funded MPs don’t disclose full details of their spending.
“This is nothing but yet another ideological Conservative attack on unions that comes right out of the Republican party playbook in the United States. No fair-minded Canadian should stand for this, regardless of what party they support.”
The CLC points out the bill is backed by such anti-union groups as the Fraser Institute, the Merit Shop Contractors and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business because they would have access to detailed information about everything a union spends money on and allow them to assess a union’s strength. The information, provided at taxpayer and union expense, can be used to threaten collective bargaining rights and organizing drives.
CWA Canada is urging its members to contact their MPs as soon as possible to let the government know that it’s wrong to single out labour groups for such scrutiny. The bill is currently at an early stage of proceedings in the House, with debate scheduled for today, March 13. A vote would likely occur next week; if passed, it would be referred to the Finance Committee for consideration and potentially public hearings.
The bill’s sponsor, Conservative MP Russ Hiebert, conforms to his party’s now standard practise of introducing legislation to deal with non-existent problems. A slick website that has been created in support of the bill (almost certainly at taxpayer expense) contains misleading and incorrect information, which the MP apparently hopes will be believed if it’s repeated often enough.
Although he acknowledges that unions already disclose financial information to their members in accordance with their own bylaws and provincial regulations, he seeks public disclosure because of “tax benefits these institutions receive” which he has pegged at $400 million a year.
There is not a shred of truth to that claim: Unions do not receive any public subsidy. It is workers and their families, not unions, who receive an income tax deduction related to their dues. The tax treatment of these workers is exactly the same as that for dues-paying members of the law societies, medical associations or employers who belong to industry associations.
Opposition House leader Joe Comartin called the proposed legislation “a frontal attack on the labour movement” when the bill was given second reading in February. The NDP MP said it would, in fact, threaten rights to privacy, association and freedom of speech.
The strategy behind similar, but less onerous, legislation in the U.S. was that “every dollar spent on disclosure and reporting” was a dollar not spent on other union activities, said Comartin.
While the website dismisses as negligible the expense to unions to assemble and report such information, the CLC estimates it would take the average local union — most of which are run by volunteers — 200 to 400 hours annually at a significant cost to their treasuries. Some estimates say it would add 20 per cent to the current costs, and for some of the pension funds, it would require them to file returns “the size of a large city’s phone book.”
Hiebert also glosses over the cost to taxpayers, which will amount to millions of dollars to create a massive database, related materials and hundreds of CRA staff to administer it all.
Huge majority ratifies new contract at Halifax newspaper
Source: cwa-scacanada.ca
Newsroom employees at The Chronicle Herald in Halifax today voted 94.6 per cent in favour of ratifying a new contract. The four-year agreement includes annual wage increases of two per cent for the 84-member bargaining unit of the Halifax Typographical Union. “I think this agreement is fair and reasonable and, from today’s ratification vote, it is clear the membership agrees,” says HTU president Stephen Forest. The reporters, photographers, editors and other newsroom staff had been without a contract since Nov. 21. Days before the union negotiation team went into conciliation, the membership gave it a powerful 96-per-cent strike mandate. 2012.02.10| Strike vote spurs tentative deal in Halifax 2012.02.06| Hard bargaining in Halifax aided by strong strike mandate 2009.02.03| First-ever layoffs leave newsroom staff reeling 2008.01.14| Planned strike vote switches to ratification nod to 4-year deal The company dropped its demand to introduce a community weeklies reporter classification that would have paid salaries less than half of what reporters now earn, says Forest. While the company also wanted to establish a nine-step wage grid with significantly lower starting salaries for new reporters and photographers, the union agreed to go from a five-step to a six-step wage grid in this classification with a slightly lower starting salary than at present. Martin O’Hanlon, Director of CWA Canada, said the “company had been pushing hard for major concessions, but it backed down in the face of an overwhelming strike vote. This is what unions can accomplish with a strong, united membership.” For further information, contact HTU president Stephen Forest at 902-452-2390.