Category Archives: Post Media

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.

 

CWA Canada Statement on Paul Godfrey

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Jan. 10, 2019

Media union CWA Canada, which represents staff at several Postmedia newspapers, welcomes the announcement that Paul Godfrey is stepping down as CEO of Postmedia.

“It’s just a shame it didn’t happen years ago,” CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon said. “It is not hyperbole to say that Godfrey has been a disaster for the newspaper industry in this country.”

“Godfrey has presided over the destruction of a once-proud chain, laying off thousands of staff and leaving decimated newsrooms. It has been a nightmare for workers, bad for society, and damaging to our democracy.”

“Especially galling is the fact that Godfrey took a huge raise last year, to $5 million, and funnelled millions more to Postmedia’s vulture fund owners – while demanding that staff take concessions on pension and benefits. Unfortunately, there is no indication that new CEO Andrew MacLeod will be any different.”

For more information, contact:

Martin O’Hanlon

President, CWA Canada

The Media Union

Postmedia continues its downward spiral

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Source: nationalobserver.com

So how long can Postmedia, Canada’s largest newspaper chain, stay afloat?

A sign of the company’s fiscal crisis came in September when unionized journalists and sales staff at the Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun voted 32 to 24 to accept a Postmedia contract that reduces sick pay, dental and other health benefits. The company had threatened to lock out the workers if they didn’t accept the deal.

Read entire story here: nationalobserver.com

 

 

Feds must take action to stop Postmedia destruction of local news

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Source: cwacanada.ca

OTTAWA – CWA Canada, the country’s only all-media union, is calling on the federal government to take action to block the latest destructive cuts at Postmedia.

The company announced today that it is closing six newspapers in Ontario and Alberta, killing the print editions of three more, and cutting yet more staff to reduce its salary costs by 10 per cent. This continues a decade of self-cannibalization that has seen more than 3,000 jobs cut and many papers closed as Postmedia struggles with self-created debt and declining print ad revenues.

“It’s clear that Postmedia exists solely to funnel money to its vulture fund lenders who keep the CEO in their pocket with big bonuses while journalism is an afterthought,” CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon said.

“This ‘let’s-do-more-with-less” plan has failed repeatedly as the company races to the bottom. The newspaper chain is collapsing, communities are being hurt, journalism is in steep decline, and it’s long past time for the government to do something.”

CWA Canada is urging legislation or regulations to limit concentration of media ownership and to prevent destructive leveraged takeovers of important national companies.

What makes today’s announcement even more outrageous is the fact that Postmedia gave top executives pay raises of 33 per cent last year.

“Where do you think the money is better spent?” O’Hanlon asked. “On raises for overpaid, under-performing executives or on hard-working employees who actually produce something and contribute to the economy?”

CWA Canada represents more than 6,000 media workers at companies across the country, including the CBC, The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters, and many Postmedia publications.

For more information, contact:

Martin O’Hanlon
President, CWA Canada
(613) 867-5090
mohanlon@cwa-scacanada.ca

‘Hell freezes over’: National Post staff announce union drive at Postmedia’s flagship paper

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Source:globalnews.ca

Editorial staff at the National Post, the flagship publication of Canada’s largest newspaper company, announced Wednesday that they are beginning a union drive with CWA Canada. The paper’s beleaguered parent company Postmedia, which has suffered steep revenue declines affecting the entire print media industry, offered buyouts last week, just months after completing a company-wide salary cost reduction of twenty per cent.

 

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Unions at 5 Postmedia papers unite against draconian contract cuts

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Source: cwacanada.ca

Leaders of CWA Canada and Unifor Locals at five newspapers that are bargaining new contracts with Postmedia have vowed to stand united against the company’s concession proposals.

Postmedia wants unionized employees to accept draconian measures it imposed earlier this year on non-union staff. The company wants to freeze the Postmedia defined-benefit pension plan, slash its pension contribution to 3.0 per cent, reduce medical benefits, eliminate retiree benefits, and cut vacation entitlement, among other things.

In a letter to members in Kingston, Montreal, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, and Windsor, CWA Canada President Martin O’Hanlon said they need to understand why the company is going after their hard-won gains.

“If this was a matter of helping the company survive, we would be happy to do our part and share the pain. But this is not about the survival of the company,” said O’Hanlon. “Postmedia papers are making money and the parent company reported a profit in its most recent financial statement.

“This is about the company taking money away from you and your family to feed its predatory lenders and line the pockets of executives.”

O’Hanlon said the unions “will take this message to the company and resume negotiations until new contracts are reached.”

Members of the Ottawa Newspaper Guild, who work at The Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Sun, let the company know where they stood two months ago. They gave their bargaining team a strong strike mandate ahead of conciliation June 20-21, which did not budge the company from its demands that would gut the contract.

O’Hanlon said in his letter that members in Ottawa, as well as those at The Gazette in Montreal, the Kingston Whig-Standard, Sault Star and Windsor Star need to stand firm.

“Why should each of you give up tens of thousands of dollars in pension benefits so that Postmedia can pay tens of millions to its hedge fund masters and other lenders?

“Why should you give up medical benefits while Paul Godfrey and other top executives get $2.3 million in ‘retention’ bonuses? It’s just not fair.”

In a blog post days after that letter went out to CWA Canada members, Kenneth Whyte, the former editor-in-chief of the National Post, was not optimistic about the prospects for Postmedia.

“Expect increasingly savage moves by management over the next 12 months. More cuts to the product, the payroll, days of publication, etc. … The company’s owners have every incentive to keep it running no matter how painful the ordeal, or how pathetic the product.

“Ugly as it has been to date, we have only seen the overture at Postmedia. The next twenty-four months will be a horror show.”

When Postmedia issued a news release today about its sale of a west-end Toronto printing plant for $30.5 million, the proceeds of which would go towards debt repayment, O’Hanlon lashed out on social media:

“Typical predatory hedge-fund lender; cut to the bone, drain off all the profits, sell the valuable assets and, when nothing good is left, sell off what’s left of the company or declare bankruptcy.”

O’Hanlon pointed out that “this is not mopping up a troubled widget company. This is the orchestrated gutting of the country’s biggest newspaper chain. The implications for democracy and our society are dire.

“How is this kind of destructive, bottom-feeding capitalism legal? We’ve asked the federal Liberal government to bring in tougher regulations, but no luck.”

Postmedia executives receive $2.3-million in retention bonuses

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Source: theglobeandmail.com

Amid another year of dramatic restructuring at Postmedia Network Canada Corp., the company’s five most senior executives were awarded nearly $2.3-million in retention bonuses.

The payouts, which are outlined in company disclosures filed on Wednesday, are tied to a recent debt restructuring that wiped out more than $268-million (U.S.) in debt, thereby reducing the company’s interest payments by about $50-million (Canadian) each year.

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Postmedia to cut more jobs as net loss spikes

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Source: theglobeandmail.com

 

In the past year, Postmedia Network Canada Corp. has shed the equivalent of 800 full-time jobs. On Thursday, the company said the job losses will deepen, announcing a target of a further 20-per-cent saving on salary costs.

The latest round of planned staff reductions – through voluntary buyouts, followed by involuntary layoffs if necessary – comes amid a worsening slump. In earnings unveiled on Thursday, the company said its net loss spiked by 84 per cent to $99.4-million in the fourth quarter as print advertising sales fell by more than 20 per cent.

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Google partners with Postmedia/major publishers

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Google partners with Postmedia/major publishers

source: business.financialpost.com

JUN 2, 2016

Postmedia Network Inc. and Google Inc. are teaming up to make reading the news on a Canadian smartphone up to 60 per cent faster, while using 10 times less data.

Accelerated mobile pages (AMP) is Google’s open-source project, already used by publishers around the world, that aims to bring mobile web page load times closer to instantaneous. Starting Thursday, Postmedia — Canada’s largest newspaper company — will begin using the technology on publications in most of the markets in which it operates.

AMP uses lightweight HTML code and more effective use of cloud-base storage to handle content such as images, animations and videos.

“It satisfies both the publishers and the readers,” said Josh Merchant, vice president of product at Postmedia. “In testing, we’ve seen about a 15 per cent drop in bounce rates (users leaving after just one page) as well as a 60 per cent reduction in page load times.”

The AMP project began about a year ago, after discussions between technology companies and publishers about the growing problem of slow mobile web speeds that cause readers to give up on a page before it even loads.
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