Quebecor-Sun Media set to layoff staff at Nugget

North Bay Newspaper Guild CWA-Canada Local 30241
News Release

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The North Bay Nugget is reducing its workforce as part of a Quebecor-Sun Media consolidation to non-union shops in eastern and southern Ontario. Six ad designers and members of the North Bay Newspaper Guild CWA-Canada Local 30241, are being laid off effective May 28.

Verbal notice has also been given that it won't be long before news pages are paginated at the Sudbury Star, with at least one full-time senior employee to be terminated and another one will likely bump a junior reporter out of a position.

”We’re not happy with the reductions, we don’t believe they make good long-term business sense and they don’t reflect the support Nugget readers and advertisers continue to give this newspaper,” said Guild president Dave Dale. ”We hope our readers and advertisers take the time to tell our boss and his corporate bosses they expect local employment from their local newspaper.”

These job losses are not a result of red ink. As far as the Guild can tell, the Nugget has made sizable profits every year despite the recession and industry challenges, Dale said.

By June, another eight of the 41 full-time union positions at The Nugget will have evaporated, which means the North Bay area will lose substantial return on its investment in the local newspaper, Dale said.

In late 2008, six other people were axed, including two full-time photographers with more than 50 years of combined experience, one news department manager position was lost, one advertising manager position disappeared, a long-time maintenance person was given the heave-ho within a year of retirement and a long-time ad layout coordinator was severed.

A year earlier, reader sales and service diminished by closing the office during half the normal business day, with good part-time people let go before that as the company set up a call-in ad sales centre near Ottawa.

On the upside, The Nugget and the area has benefited from work being moved here from other papers in the Sun Media chain. The Sudbury Star has been printed in North Bay for a couple of years, and it now prints The Orillia Packet and Times and Midland Free Press.

Two of the six ad designers being laid off came to North Bay recently to cover increased workload after a Sudbury Star desktop department was closed, ending three jobs there.

But the Guild expects more layoffs to come. Bargaining began for a new contract March 30 to replace the agreement that ended Dec. 31, 2009. Many Sun Media concessions were sought on the first day, including reductions in how much notice is given for layoffs caused by reorganization. It was announced during the second morning that the desktop department and its six positions was being closed due to reorganization, with talks halting shortly after.

Negotiations are set to resume in mid-May after a presentation regarding a new benefits carrier explains how much more benefits will cost, and how many fewer benefits are offered, as well as the added complications of receiving them.

During an emergency Guild meeting at the 406 Wing Squadron Hall April 11, an ad salesperson with the Kingston Whig gave an overview of what it’s like to coordinate ads with Sun Media’s non-union design shop in Barrie. Nugget sales people are now preparing for the transition and expected hiccups.

One of the North Bay Newspaper Guild’s chief proposals for a new agreement is returning mailing room staff wages to a level that is at least two dollars an hour more than minimum wage, as it was before recent increases in the cost of living and hikes in minimum wage.

Non-monetary items at the table include a company demand that reporters give up all “moral right” to the stories, photos and videos they produce, which may mean materials can be altered and changed at any time after its initially published, even if it changes the context and opinion expressed by the author.

The company also wants the freedom to demand all the documentation it desires, including sensitive and unrelated medical records, even for one sick day. Other items tossed on the table by the employer include a weeklong reduction in the holiday grid for the most senior and dedicated workers, deletion of a floating vacation day in trade for a statutory Family Day already given, and half as many guaranteed hours when scheduled for a stat holiday.

In response to the local job losses, more than 75 surviving North Bay Newspaper Guild members want the public to know they care about The Nugget and its ability to continue producing a great local product.

”We don’t want our subscribers to stop paying for this product. We don’t want our advertisers to stop using this vehicle to do business. And we don’t want to go on strike or get locked out,” Dale said. ”But we can’t remain silent as good paying jobs are quietly shipped out of the very city that makes this newspaper profitable.”

Please send an email to our publisher, Sun Media and Quebecor and demand more local jobs from your local newspaper. [email protected] & [email protected].

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