In meetings Sunday, two bargaining units of the Montreal Newspaper Guild rejected a contract offer presented by The Gazette, while a third accepted an offer for a two-year contract.

A resolution passed by members of the Montreal Newspaper Guild (MNG) instructing their bargaining team to meet with the employer and achieve an agreement was sent to the conciliator, who won the company’s approval to set up a meeting for this Wednesday.

David Wilson, the CWA Canada staff representative who has been leading the negotiations, says of the membership: “They’re pumped!” He notes that “this is the furthest this Local has ever gone in standing up for itself — and they mean it.”

The 181 employees in three bargaining units — Advertising, Editorial and Reader Sales & Service (RSS) — have been without a contract since June 1, 2008. Sunday afternoon, Editorial voted 80.5 per cent and RSS 73 per cent, to reject the company’s offer. Later in the day, Advertising voted 65 per cent in favour of accepting the deal.

The lobby of the hotel where the MNG meetings and votes took place was jammed with journalists from every news outlet in the city, says Wilson. Labour strife in the media had hit the headlines a day earlier, when the Quebecor-owned Journal de Montréal locked out 250 editorial and office employees.

Although both sides at The Gazette have been in a legal strike/lockout position since early last summer, and the union voted 86 per cent in favour of a strike mandate in September, “We’ve told the employer and the public that we have no intention of striking at this time,” says Wilson. “We hope to conclude a fair agreement at some point in the near future.”

Management at the CanWest-owned daily wants language removed from the three collective agreements that gives the MNG jurisdiction over work performed by its members. Without that language, the company would be free to ship the employees’ work to other company facilities that are not unionized.

Guild jurisdiction has been a critical issue ever since Gazette management laid off 45 RSS employees in June and exported their work to a CanWest call centre in Winnipeg.

The MNG is also grieving the transfer of other work — layout of some pages and the Driving section, electronic photo desk functions, business office duties — to non-unionized CanWest facilities in Hamilton and Winnipeg. That grievance is scheduled to go to arbitration next month.

The MNG maintains that contracts for all three bargaining units “clearly prohibit the assignment of such work either to employees of the same employer not covered by our collective agreement or to employees outside The Gazette.”

Meanwhile, an online petition against CanWest’s job outsourcing that was set up in October, had garnered 7,152 signatures as of today.

Vote results

• Editorial: For 23, Against 95
• Reader Sales and Service: For 4, Against 11
• Advertising: For 17, Against 9

Motion passed by Editorial/RSS

Whereas the contract language proposed by Gazette management would lead to widespread outsourcing of our work and significant loss of jobs;

Therefore, be it resolved that we instruct the Guild’s bargaining committee to resume negotiations in good faith with the goal of reaching an agreement that meets the needs of both the Gazette and its employees.

Editorial and Reader Sales and Service bargaining units

The Ottawa Citizen is refusing to allow its editorial employees to pull their bylines in a show of solidarity with fellow Guild members who are attempting to bargain new contracts at The Gazette in Montreal.

The newspapers are owned by Canwest Global Communications Corp. Guild contracts at both dailies contain clauses that give staff control over their bylines and credit lines.

The Ottawa Newspaper Guild has filed a grievance over management’s position and has no doubt it will win the case, says president Lois Kirkup.

Language in the contract is unequivocal, she notes. The relevant clause states: “Bylines or credit lines shall be used at the Company’s discretion provided that an employee’s byline or credit line shall not be used over his/her protest.”

The employer, says Kirkup, is arguing that pulling bylines and credit lines would hinder production and be a form of strike, which is “nonsense.”

The ONG, which through CWA Canada engaged in co-ordinated mobilization efforts in late summer and early fall when it and the Montreal Newspaper Guild were engaged in bargaining, continues to support the MNG. Although the ONG ratified new collective agreements late last month, the membership has been doing what it can to help colleagues in Montreal.

Kirkup says the Local’s members wore their black Guild T-shirts to a townhall meeting with the publisher in mid-October as well as to work.

“We’re still trying to do things to support Montreal,” says Kirkup.

Contract talks at The Gazette wrapped up today amid media reports that a senior editor at CanWest’s news service was trying to line up journalism students to file stories to the newspaper in the event of a strike.

David Wilson, the CWA Canada staff representative who is leading the negotiations, says there was some progress over the last two days of bargaining for Editorial and Reader Sales and Service, although the employer still wants to eliminate union jurisdiction over work performed at the CanWest-owned newspaper.

Wilson says two days of conciliation are scheduled to begin Oct. 20, but the parties might be back at the table next week.

Meanwhile, management appears to be making preparations for a work stoppage. Macleans.ca blogger Martin Patriquin reported last night that “CanWest News Service Editor-In-Chief Gerry Nott did the obvious thing: he called up the local university and offered to make scabs out of several journalism students.”

Patriquin notes that “Concordia Department of Journalism Director Mike Gasher, meanwhile, is none too pleased with the soliciting of his young charges.”

He quotes from an email Gasher sent to students:

“It’s come to my attention that some Concordia journalism students have been approached by CanWest to replace regular newsroom staff should there be a strike or lock-out at The Gazette. While that decision is ultimately up to you, I would caution you to think very carefully about accepting such an offer as it is a form of scab labour. Not only could it harm your reputation and the reputation of our department within the journalistic community, it interferes with the ongoing collective bargaining process between Gazette journalists and their employer.”

The CBC has since picked up the story, which is also spreading in the blogosphere.

The executive of the Montreal Newspaper Guild, in a communiqué to members on Wednesday, expressed its “disappointment that the employer has effectively ended talks for a new contract for 37 members of the Advertising unit by tabling (last Friday) what it calls a ‘final offer.’ The Guild has offered to meet with the employer to discuss Advertising issues further. It is important to stress that the employer has not withdrawn its attempt to claw back the union’s jurisdiction over work in advertising by proposing a clause that is so convoluted it would have the same result.”

Members of the three bargaining units, who gave their negotiators a strike mandate on Sept. 28, were advised by the MNG executive to remove all personal effects from the workplace.

A byline strike and work-to-rule campaign went into effect today at The Gazette as staff protested management’s stonewalling in contract negotiations.

Mona Leroux, president of the Montreal Newspaper Guild (MNG), says the negotiating team suggested the job action after talks for Editorial and Reader Sales and Service (RSS) “bogged down” yesterday over the issue of jurisdiction. Two days of bargaining for the Advertising unit commenced this morning.

“Management is refusing to sign a collective agreement that contains jurisdiction language and will not talk about any other issues,” says Leroux.

The CanWest-owned Gazette is attempting to eliminate union jurisdiction over work performed by its employees and wants to merge job functions in some departments.

The bargaining team was handed a powerful strike mandate on Sunday when members voted 100 per cent (Editorial), 98 per cent (RSS) and 59 per cent (Advertising) in favour of doing so.

The 181 employees in the three units have been without a contract since June 1. The union and management have been in a legal position to strike or lock out since early summer.

This is the first time in recent memory that the union has asked its members to work to rule, says Leroux.

The byline strike by journalists is the first since a Quebec labour tribunal, in a landmark ruling five years ago, restored their contractual right to that form of protest. In December 2001, dozens of Gazette journalists attracted international attention — and management’s wrath — when they withdrew their bylines to protest CanWest’s plan to run identical “national editorials” in most of the daily newspapers the corporation acquired with the takeover in 2000 of the Southam empire.

Gazette journalists can withhold bylines ‘as they see fit,’
Quebec arbitrator rules

When the Gazette’s editor-in-chief ordered all staff to restore their bylines, the MNG launched an immediate grievance under the Employee Integrity section of the collective agreement, which an arbitrator upheld in October 2003. The ruling confirmed that reporters, photographers, artists and others at The Gazette have the “absolute right” to control use of their bylines and credit lines on stories, photos and other works, with the exception of analyses, columns and opinion pieces.

“Just about everybody pulled their bylines today,” says Leroux.

Late this afternoon, the work-to-rule campaign was having an effect, says Leroux, who was hearing reports of some projects being cancelled because staff were refusing to work unscheduled shifts.

The Guild has called upon members to “follow the existing contract conditions to the letter. … strict observance of hours of work: seven hours, plus one hour of meal break, and no overtime unless it’s approved in advance by your department supervisor.”

When bargaining resumed Tuesday for the Editorial and RSS units, lead negotiator David Wilson, a CWA Canada staff representative, was hopeful that the strong strike mandate would move talks along. But there was no progress by the second day so talks broke off Wednesday afternoon.

Guild jurisdiction over work performed by its members has been a critical issue ever since Gazette management laid off 45 RSS employees in June and exported their work to a CanWest call centre in Winnipeg. The MNG is also in the process of grieving the transfer of other work (layout of some pages and the Driving section, electronic photo desk functions, business office duties) to non-unionized CanWest facilities in Hamilton and Winnipeg.

Contracts for all three bargaining units “clearly prohibit the assignment of such work either to employees of the same employer not covered by our collective agreement or to employees outside The Gazette,” says Leroux.

The union is seeking a three-year deal with annual wage increases of six per cent, a major boost in vehicle allowance from $700 to $900 a month, plus improvements in vacation time, vision care and night shift differentials.

The team bargaining on behalf of employees at The Gazette in Montreal heads back into contract talks tomorrow armed with a powerful strike mandate.

The combined result of voting by members of three bargaining units of the Montreal Newspaper Guild (MNG) saw 86 per cent supporting a strike mandate for their bargaining committee. Reader Sales and Service (RSS) employees were 100 per cent in favour; Editorial was 98 per cent; and Advertising 59 per cent.

Mona Leroux, president of the MNG, says the union executive is “very pleased” with the results. “This sends a strong message to the employer that we are united in our determination to achieve a fair collective agreement.”

David Wilson, the CWA Canada staff representative who is leading negotiations for the Local, agrees. “Up to this point, they (management) haven’t taken a lot of our issues seriously. We’re hoping this mandate will help move things along.”

There have been only four days of bargaining since early summer, when the two sides were in a legal position to strike or lock out. But there’s been little movement on management’s part, says Wilson.

The CanWest-owned Gazette is attempting to eliminate union jurisdiction over work performed by its employees and wants to merge job functions in all three bargaining units.

The Guild has made it clear it will not concede jurisdiction or accept any takebacks from the employer.

“We feel confident we have the backing of the membership,” when contract talks resume tomorrow and Wednesday for Editorial and RSS, and on Thursday and Friday for Advertising, says Wilson. “It was clear at (Sunday’s) meeting that people are onside and they’re ready to take a stand.”

The 181 Guild members have been without a contract since June 1. The union is seeking a three-year deal with annual wage increases of six per cent, a major boost in vehicle allowance from $700 to $900 a month, plus improvements in vacation time, vision care and night shift differentials.

Gazette management laid off 45 RSS employees in June and exported their work to a CanWest call centre in Winnipeg. The union is grieving the transfer of other work (layout of some pages and the Driving section, electronic photo desk functions, business office duties) to non-unionized CanWest facilities in Hamilton and Winnipeg.

Contracts for all three bargaining units “clearly prohibit the assignment of such work either to employees of the same employer not covered by our collective agreement or to employees outside The Gazette,” says Leroux.

Management also wants to reclassify reporters, photographers, artists and critics as “journalists” so that they can be forced to provide multi-media content for the online Gazette and CanWest’s internet portals. What it means, says Leroux, is that reporters and critics would have to take photographs and video footage, while photographers would have to write articles.

The bargaining-layoff drama unfolding at The Gazette resembles a chess match in which the Montreal Newspaper Guild (MNG) continues to make defensive moves to check company plans to get rid of 45 employees next month.

Even while negotiating a new collective agreement for 57 members who work in classifieds, the MNG almost simultaneously sought an injunction against the unprecedented massive layoff in Reader Sales & Service (RSS), filed unfair labour practise charges against management, and officially requested a merger of three bargaining units, including RSS, whose contracts expire on Sunday.

David Wilson, the CWA Canada staff representative who has been assisting the Local, says it is abundantly clear that management at the CanWest-owned daily newspaper has no intention of engaging in serious bargaining to renew collective agreements with the RSS, editorial and advertising departments.

MNG president Mona Leroux has said the employer “wants to bargain only with RSS” in a “divide-and-conquer” strategy because “they want their 45 layoffs.” The plan, to export the work to a non-union CanWest call centre in Winnipeg, is the subject of a grievance filed by the union because it is a clear violation of Guild contracts at The Gazette.

There are fears that the company will lock out the RSS workers on June 6, when it is legally able to do so. The other two bargaining units would not be in a strike/lockout position until late July.

Conciliation on Friday for the three bargaining units was “a day full of frustration and the union didn’t even have the opportunity to present proposals to the employer,” says Wilson. Rather, management produced its offer and demanded the union put it to a vote of the membership.

On Monday, an arbitrator will consider the Guild’s request for a safeguard order (injunction) to prevent the layoffs scheduled for June 13. If the order is granted, the company would not be able to lay off the RSS employees or contract-out their work until an arbitrator has ruled on the legality of the move.

Wilson says that, given the fact the union has applied for merger of the three bargaining units, there is a possibility Quebec’s labour ministry would suspend negotiations and freeze working conditions until that application is dealt with. The freeze could happen as early as next week, says Wilson.

The MNG has also filed unfair labour practice charges against The Gazette over management’s attempts to bargain directly with its members who work in RSS. There are a number of instances of bad faith added to the charge, which is to be heard on June 5, says Wilson.

Members who work in classifieds last week unanimously ratified a three-year agreement that is retroactive to Jan. 1. Wilson says the union made no concessions during five bargaining days and one day of conciliation.

This is a second contract for workers in classifieds, the first one having been imposed by an arbitrator three years after the unit was certified. The new agreement, says Wilson, introduces wage scales to the classifieds department.

Workers not at the top rate will receive salary increases of between two and five per cent in the first year, with many getting another four per cent at the end of this year.

Increases in the second and third years of the agreement will depend on the outcome of bargaining for the other three units, says Wilson.