The Victoria Newspaper Guild is a Union that was founded in 1945 and in 1946 signed its first agreement covering editorial employees of the Victoria Daily Times. By 1951, the Guild represented all employees in the editorial and commercial departments of the Times and The Daily Colonist. These two newspapers merged into one company — Victoria Press, owned by FP Publications.
In 1958, the Victoria Newspaper Guild affiliated as a Local of the Newspaper Guild thus becoming members of an International Union (based in the U.S.A.). In 1980, Thomson Newspaper purchased FP Publications. Seven months later the Daily Colonist (Born 1858) and Victoria Times (Born 1884) were merged into the Times Colonist. The newspaper’s parent company is currently Glacier Media Group.
In 1990, all employees of the Duncan Citizen (a community newspaper then owned by Thomson Corporation) were organized by the Victoria Newspaper Guild which became the Victoria-Vancouver Island Newspaper Guild.
In 1997, the Victoria-Vancouver Island Newspaper Guild became chartered as Local 30223 of the Newspaper Guild, sector of the Communications Workers of America following the merger of The Newspaper Guild and the Communications Workers of America into one International Union (TNG-CWA) based in the U.S.A. Also a Canadian arm of the International Union (TNG-CWA) was formed — TNG/CWA Canada
In 2006 CWA authorized CWA Canada to act with full autonomy, guaranteeing Canadians full control over their own governance, operations, and policies. Our parent Union is now titled: “CWA Canada – The Media Union”. CWA Canada is Canada’s only all-media Union, boasting 6000 members at 17 locals across the country. Visit the CWA Canada website for more information: https://cwacanada.ca/
The Victoria Joint Council of Newspaper Unions
Upon our return to work on November 6, 2002, the Victoria Joint Council of Newspaper Unions agreed to meet on a monthly basis to discuss matters of interest to all parties. These meetings have proved to be very informative, and helped us forge a better understanding and appreciation, of our co-workers value to the production of our newspaper.
In 2025, all Unionized employees at the Times Colonist belong to Victoria-Vancouver Island Newspaper Guild (VVING) Local 30223. VVING still represents the members of the Cowichan Valley Citizen newspaper, as well as the members of Mail-O-Matic (a direct-mail business in Burnaby, B.C.).