After a full day of negotiations and some key concessions by Gazette management, the Montreal Newspaper Guild agreed last night to settle its grievances over the transfer of work in the Reader Sales and Services call centre to Canwest’s Reach Canada call centre in Winnipeg:

• Severance pay will be increased: equivalent 4.5 weeks’ salary for every year of service, up to a maximum of 78 weeks, for ALL employees affected by the lay-off notice, with a minimum $1,000 severance. (The 4.5 weeks/year formula is the equivalent of the last editorial buyout)
• The Gazette will now respect seniority in hiring eight new positions in RSS. Job applications will be reopened for two days, ending at 5pm on Tuesday, June 10. RSS employees who received lay-off notices can apply for one of the new positions. Should a candidate have the proven competence, he or she may displace an incumbent employee with lower seniority.
• The Gazette has agreed to extend the duration of the rehiring list to 24 months (so laid-off employees will be given priority for any new jobs that open up).
• The Gazette will maintain its contributions to life, medical and dental benefits for three months following lay-off.
• Any employee 55 years or older will be entitled to the employer’s retirees’ benefit plan.

The company agreed to the Guild’s demand that this deal constitute a settlement of grievance, and not a new collective agreement for RSS. The company has agreed to bargain a new collective agreement for those who remain in RSS in the coming weeks.

Finally, this settlement does not affect the jurisdiction language in the collective agreement.