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Postmedia pay cut would be ‘tough sell’ for unions

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2020.04.28

Postmedia pay cut would be ‘tough sell’ for unions

Leaders of CWA Canada Locals at newspapers in three provinces will hold a conference call tonight to decide their response to Postmedia’s moves to cut labour costs during the public health crisis.

The company announced today that it will lay off 50 sales people, temporarily cut pay for employees, and permanently close 15 of its 95 community newspapers. The cuts do not affect any of the media union’s 281 members who work at nine of Postmedia’s 15 daily newspapers.

CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon said there was a significant error in the announcement by Postmedia CEO Andrew MacLeod.

“He stated that all employees earning over $60,000 will be subject to a temporary pay reduction. In fact, unionized staff cannot be forced to take a pay reduction; that would have to be agreed to by the union,” O’Hanlon said.

“We will discuss the company’s statement and its request for a five-per-cent temporary pay cut. But it’s a tough sell given that Postmedia has been funnelling tens of millions of dollars to its hedge fund owners and paying millions in executive salaries and bonuses. Last year alone, it paid its top five executives a whopping $7.4 million while laying off staff and freezing worker salaries.”

CWA Canada has Locals at Postmedia papers in Montreal, Ottawa, Windsor, Kingston, North Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, and Regina.

MacLeod, whose total compensation last year was $2.4 million, said in early April that he would take a 30-per-cent cut to the $820,000 salary portion of that. Other executives and those in management ranks will see salary reductions ranging from eight to 20 per cent.

Postmedia is eligible for the 75-per-cent Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, which is intended to avert layoffs or to push employers to recall workers. It is retroactive to March 15 and provides up to $847 a week per employee.

The company will also be able to access labour tax credits under the $595-million journalism support fund, among other government support programs.

MacLeod said today: “While we are very grateful for these programs, no subsidy can offset the huge declines in revenues our industry is experiencing” due to the “unprecedented tidal forces” caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advertising revenues at already-beleaguered newspapers across the country plummeted as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded and forced the shutdown of non-essential businesses, sporting and cultural events. Newspapers are heavily dependent on advertising from those sectors of a local economy.

On April 11, Postmedia reported a loss of just over $5 million in its second quarter ending Feb. 29, two weeks before the country headed into lockdown. That was a drop of 7.5 per cent compared with last year. Total revenue for the quarter was $145.7 million, with $110.8 million of that from print advertising and circulation; $28.2 million was derived from its digital businesses.

 

Ottawa extends financial lifeline to newspapers, journalism

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Many of the country’s newspapers were pulled back from the brink with today’s announcement that federal wage subsidies will be extended to all businesses regardless of size.

CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon had on Friday issued an urgent appeal to Ottawa to provide immediate financial aid to the news industry. He asked that publishers be eligible for the same measures offered to small- and medium-size businesses.

“This is a huge announcement which, combined with government ad buys, should ease the crisis for news companies and provide financial stability for workers,” O’Hanlon said today.

“We thank the government for listening and we urge all companies that have laid off workers or cut hours to restore full operations. At a time like this, it is vital that we have more news coverage, not less.”

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in his daily briefing this morning that any company, including non-profits, whose revenues were down by at least 30 per cent would qualify for the 75-per-cent wage subsidy. This would be paid on the first $58,700 of salary, up to $847 a week, and would be backdated to March 15. He urged companies to make up the other 25 per cent.

The measure is intended to prevent layoffs, which have already happened at newspaper companies in Quebec and Atlantic Canada, and to encourage the recall of those who have been laid off due to the COVID-19 crisis.

“We are stepping up to help all employers,” said Trudeau. But he cautioned that “every dollar should go to workers” and, for businesses that take advantage of the program, there would be “serious consequences. We trust you to do the right thing.”

In issuing the appeal for financial aid on Friday, O’Hanlon said it was “vital that this money begin to flow in a matter of days, not weeks or months. It is not hyperbole to state that the survival of some companies hangs in the balance. Ad revenue has plummeted more than two thirds and newspaper publishers in Quebec and Atlantic Canada have laid off hundreds of workers and cut wages and hours for others. More publishers across the country will undoubtedly follow suit very soon without help.”

Challenger Schleuss wins re-run election for president of NewsGuild

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Jon Schleuss was elected President of The NewsGuild-CWA on Tuesday, defeating 12-year incumbent Bernie Lunzer.

Challenger Jon Schleuss has won The NewsGuild-CWA election, unseating incumbent Bernie Lunzer to claim the presidency.

The unofficial tally Tuesday showed Schleuss, a Los Angeles Times graphics and data journalist, with 1,979 (56.7%) votes and 1,514 (43.3%) for Lunzer.

Schleuss, whose four-year term begins immediately, ran on a platform to reform and modernize the 87-year-old union.

“We now have a stirring of wind at our backs, and we must build on our accomplishments,” he said in a news release. “It won’t always be easy, but our mission is to continue to grow the Guild and fight to preserve the future of journalism.”

Lunzer led the Guild through its greatest period of growth in decades, organizing 60 workplaces and 3,000 workers in the last four years.

The international referendum, in which all CWA Canada members were eligible to vote, was an unprecedented re-run of the spring contest. The union’s election committee determined that over 1,000 members had been effectively disenfranchised when mail-in ballots were sent to out-of-date addresses, mostly at the Canadian Media Guild (CWA Canada Local 30213). Locals are responsible for maintaining up-to-date member addresses.

The independent American Arbitration Association, which was contracted to conduct the election, reported that almost 3,600 ballots had been received by the Dec. 9 deadline. Each Local could choose whether to conduct in-person voting between Nov. 12 and 17 or arrange for members to receive mail-in ballots.

With more than 20,000 members, including 6,000 at CWA Canada Locals, TNG is the largest journalists union in North America. It is a sector of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and is affiliated with, but has no involvement in governance of the autonomous Canadian union.

The two candidates were nominated at TNG’s 80th Sector Conference held in Florida at the end of January. Attending as a guest, Schleuss became a TNG member in good standing immediately prior to the start of the conference.

Schleuss, 32, was a key player in the successful 2017 campaign to organize editorial employees at the famously anti-union Los Angeles Times, where he has worked since 2013.

The 62-year-old Lunzer — who worked at the St. Paul Pioneer Press for 10 years, then as administrative officer of the Minnesota Guild from 1989 to 1995, when he became TNG’s secretary-treasurer — has been president since 2008.

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After years of effort, the movie Stand!, a musical that tells the story of the Winnipeg General Strike, opens in theatres on Nov. 29.

Please share the attached message with your members and do all you can to help promote the movie on social media.

I would also encourage Locals to buy tickets and provide them to members free of charge, either to your whole membership or hold a free lottery for a limited number of tickets. Once tickets go on sale, around Nov. 1, I will provide you with a link to the Cineplex site.

Solidarity!

Martin

Martin O’Hanlon

President, CWA Canada

The Media Union

 

Dear Sisters & Brothers:

It is with much gratitude to the labour movement that I announce the Stand! movie musical Canada-wide release at the Cineplex theatres listed below – on Friday, Nov. 29th.

The movie, already called the “next Norma Rae”, is the result of a partnership between the labour movement in Canada and the United States, the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, and the movie’s producers.

Tickets go on sale around Nov. 1. In order to maximize the impact of the movie, attendance at the first three days of the release – Friday, Nov. 29 to Sunday, Dec. 1 – is critical to being held over in theatres for a second or third week.

In the meantime, please consider sharing the movie now. The website www.stand-movie.com has a link to the trailer. You may also download the trailer or embed it online with this link: https://vimeo.com/363210881

Thank you in advance for helping to advance labour’s cause through the movie. It is an honour to bring this story to the world.

Sincerely,

Danny Schur

Composer/Producer/Co-writer

 

—

 

A list of theatres where Stand! will be playing (more being added daily):

Silvercity Victoria

Galaxy Nanaimo International Village

Vancouver Silvercity Riverport / Vancouver Silvercity Mission 

Scotiabank Theatre Edmonton

Scotiabank Theatre Chinook

Scotiabank Theatre Saskatoon 

Galaxy Regina 

Scotiabank Theatre Winnipeg / Cineplex McGillivray Winnipeg 

Scotiabank Theatre Ottawa

CPX Hamilton Westmount London

CPX Vaughan Silvercity Windsor

CPX Oshawa

Galaxy Barrie

Galaxy Guelph

Yonge & Dundas, Toronto 

Forum Montreal

CPX Laval

CPX St. Foy 

Scotiabank Theatre Halifax 

Mount Pearl – St. John’s NFLD

2 vying to head TNG to debate Saturday

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The two contenders for presidency of The NewsGuild-CWA will square off Saturday in a live online debate, in which CWA Canada members can participate.

Members can submit questions both before and during the debate, which begins at 6:30 p.m. EDT on Oct. 26. It will be moderated by Larry Cohen, a former president of the Communications Workers of America (CWA), assisted by Howard Stanger, a labour educator at Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y.

Send questions in advance of the debate by noon Friday, Oct. 25, to Cohen at larrycwa@gmail.com. Be sure to include your name and union Local.

The debate comes just over two weeks before in-person voting at Locals (between Nov. 12 and 17) in a re-run election for president of TNG-CWA.

The union’s election committee decided in August that the spring contest between Jon Schleuss and incumbent Bernie Lunzer had to be re-run after determining that hundreds of members had been effectively disenfranchised when mail-in ballots were sent to out-of-date addresses.

Candidate websites

Bernie Lunzer: BuildingTheGuild.org
Jon Schleuss: JonForPresident.com

Each Local determines whether to conduct in-person voting or have their members receive ballots in the mail, which have to be returned no later than Dec. 9.

Members who want to sit in on the debate need to register in advance at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_AgCVXSyTT4KZDxlS7m8y7Q . Registrants will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar and how to submit questions. A camera or microphone is not required to view the debate, although sufficient bandwidth is necessary.

A recording of the debate will be posted on the NewsGuild’s website soon after the debate ends.

Rules governing the election are also available on the website.

Committee orders re-run of election for NewsGuild president

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2019.08.13

The TNG election committee confirmed that more than 1,000 ballots had been returned unopened after being mailed to incorrect home addresses. (Photo: jonforpresident.com)

 

An independent committee has ordered an unprecedented re-run of the election for president of The NewsGuild (TNG), in which all CWA Canada members were eligible to vote.

TNG-CWA’s Sector Election and Referendum Committee (SERC), following an exhaustive investigation, determined that the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), contrary to its constitutional obligations, had “provided deeply flawed and unreliable membership information” in the referendum process that resulted in the disenfranchisement of more than 1,000 members.

The SERC had certified the results of the April election that saw incumbent Bernie Lunzer defeat Jon Schleuss 1,282 to 1,021.

CMG — the largest Local in TNG-CWA with 5,000 members — filed an election challenge upon learning after vote-counting had concluded in May that hundreds of mail-in ballots were sent to out-of-date addresses and returned unopened to TNG.

The committee’s resulting investigation found that “CMG provided more than 1,089 incorrect home addresses for members in good standing” and also “erroneously identified to the SERC as members in good standing approximately 942 individuals who are not Guild members” and therefore not entitled to vote in Sector elections.

In its decision released on Monday, the SERC said that, because of CMG’s “violation of its constitutional duties” and “egregious errors” that were “so numerous as to impact the outcome of the election,” it had no choice but to order a re-run.

The committee also decided that the re-run election, scheduled for this November, will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA), a contractor experienced in the administration of union elections.

“The use of AAA will lift from the SERC and assisting Guild staff the considerable physical and administrative burden posed by their responsibility to conduct an international mail referendum under complex and onerous election rules and constitutional requirements with limited resources.

“Equally important, use of AAA … will ensure confidence in a fair and democratic international referendum process,” said the committee.

The SERC said that, although the decision to re-run the election rendered consideration of two other election challenges unnecessary, “we nevertheless do so in the interest of reporting the full extent of our investigation and findings.”

It found no merit to allegations of bias, secrecy and a cover-up contained in the challenges, one filed by Schleuss and the other in the form of a petition from Fatima Hussein.