Source: jimromenesko.com

From RACHEL JACKSON, former Journal Register employee: The [Journal Register] Chapter 11/sale announcement does not surprise me in the least – and the employee you quoted as calling this “horseshit” is exactly right.

John Paton and his cronies ran the papers into the ground in their effort to “modernize” the company. They were killing off print and and they openly admitted it. hey cut jobs with abandon, set unrealistic individual

production goals and local benchmarks, attempted to clone community engagement efforts everywhere without regard to local demographics or values, and – as the other employee stated – constantly spewed the company line about how great Digital First is and how we all need to get on board. (Aside: I’m 30, very active on social media, and grasp the concept of live online updates, but clearly Digital First did not provide the solution to the company’s problems.)

Then, this week, Paton blamed the continuing budget problems on pensions – on the very employees doing the work in the field every day – the very employees who hear complaints in the community about how “this used to be such a great newspaper – it’s so thin now, there’s nothing worth reading in it – the online version is so buried under popups and other glitzy ads that you can’t even find the news anymore and it’s just not worth bothering.” This, we heard in the community.

In the office, our technology was so slow and awful we couldn’t perform basic functions – including loading those very same clunky news pages so we could update the copy with breaking news and information. We watched as the company poured what could have been salary money into remodeling or relocating offices. One property that had been moved out of downtown was relocated back into the downtown. Another property, which was too far for anyone to walk to, was remodeled to make room for community media labs and community engagement efforts.

He lays the blame on pensions? Give me a break. Without employees, you have no product – but, oh, wait: Perhaps that’s why we all were forced to help our local JRC property recruit 500 free community bloggers last year. So Paton wouldn’t have to pay anymore employees. Way to value the people, Paton. Way to reward them for trying so hard to support your goals.

Source: cwa-scacanada.ca

Postmedia is slashing dozens of editorial jobs at the Montreal Gazette and Ottawa Citizen, which will also cease publication of its Sunday paper in July.

“It’s a pretty bleak day for journalism,” said a dispirited Debbie Cole, president of the Ottawa Newspaper Guild, which will lose 20 members to buyouts and layoffs.

Martin O’Hanlon, Director of CWA Canada, which represents journalists at the two targetted newspapers as well as the Regina Leader Post, said cutting jobs is the wrong strategy and will only make things worse in the long run.

“We understand that Postmedia is facing financial challenges, but we believe the company can only turn things around by investing in its product rather than slashing jobs,” O’Hanlon said. “If we’ve learned anything over the last few years, it’s that cutting jobs only hurts quality and that does nothing to attract readers.”

“It’s interesting to note that while Postmedia focuses on cutting costs to service a huge debt, (legendary investor) Warren Buffett is busy buying newspapers and committing to quality journalism.”

In a $142-million bet on the U.S. print industry, Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is buying 63 daily and weekly newspapers from Media General.

In a letter to publishers and editors, Buffett said newspapers will be successful if they do a good job of covering their communities and producing local news that cannot be found on the Internet.

Postmedia, meanwhile, continues an austerity program that began shortly after purchasing the bankrupt Canwest Media newspapers. CEO Paul Godfrey, in a memo circulated today, said even more editorial production will be done at the company’s facilities in Hamilton.

This means, said Cole, that copy editors are likely to take the brunt of this latest round of cuts.

“This isn’t just bad for our members. It’s bad for the paper,” said Cole. “If you don’t invest in your product, how are you going to sell it?”

O’Hanlon said in a news release that such job cuts carry a personal and community toll. “Dozens of fine journalists will soon be out of work, hurting them, their families and the communities in which they live and contribute.”

Source: straightgoods.ca

Watchdogs need more teeth as well as public and industry support.

Dateline: Tuesday, April 17, 2012

by John Gordon Miller, Ryerson University

In a new questionnaire about the future of press councils in Canada, we are asked, “In your opinion, how accountable are news organizations to the publics they serve?”

I suspect almost no one will answer “very accountable.”

About the only useful thing you can do if you object to something published in a newspaper these days is (a) write a letter to the editor, or (b) sue them. Success depends on (a) whether they decide to publish it, and (b) whether you’ve got a lot of time and money and don’t mind losing. read entire story here

Dear friends,

It’s been quite a year! From Cairo to Calgary, common people are standing up and speaking out for their rights.

That injustice has aroused a powerful sense of outrage and as we head into 2012, the fight of the 99% will continue and the labour movement will play a key role in pushing for change.

Part of that push involves defending ourselves and the right to a decent living as employers cut our jobs and send them overseas, and the Harper government undermines working people.

Since taking over as director of CWA Canada in August, my No. 1 mission has been to protect quality jobs and quality journalism. We have launched campaigns and projects to shine a light on those who would savage our livelihoods and break the back of the middle class for the sake of greed.

In the coming months, we will be stepping up our offensive in an effort to stop further jobs cuts, defend journalism, improve wages and working conditions, and grow the union. We will start by throwing our full support behind a Canadian Media Guild campaign to block looming cuts to the CBC by the Conservatives that threaten hundreds of jobs.

Other key efforts include:

Martin O’Hanlon

Director, CWA Canada

Source: cwa-scacanada.ca

Thomson Reuters is moving its Toronto-based global online newsroom to Bangalore, India, which will eliminate the jobs of 22 members of the Canadian Media Guild.

“It’s really disappointing that Thomson Reuters – a profitable Canadian company – is offshoring jobs to pay people a pittance,” said Glenn Gray, staff representative of the CMG. “It’s not in the interest of our members or of Canadians for employers to throw people out of work and put downward pressure on our wages.”

Editorial job cuts in the United States earlier in the week prompted a bitter response from The Newspaper Guild of New York, a fellow CWA member: “In one of the shabbiest moves made by this increasingly shabby company, seven of our Guild colleagues … some of whom have worked here for over 30 years, walked into the office Monday morning only to be told, 12 days before Christmas, ‘Your job is gone, as of today.’

“As soulless as this layoff of Guild members was, it was better than what happened to a handful of editorial managers this week,” said the New York Guild. “Upper management simply picked a few and sent them packing. If there’s any question about the worth of union membership, the answer can be found at the empty desks of managers who had no Guild contract.”

The CMG, which represents about 60 Thomson Reuters employees in Canada, said the move of the online desk to India on March 15 will cut the company’s newsroom by a third. The online operation, based in Toronto since 2005, creates content for Reuters’ public website.

The Guild plans to hold a meeting at the Toronto office on Monday to ensure the rights of the 22 members affected will be respected.

Thomson Reuters said in a statement it has greatly increased the number of Reuters.com staff over the last eight months. “As part of restructuring of our production staff, we’re moving some roles in our global online newsroom from Toronto to Asia. The online visuals desk remains in Toronto.”

The New York Guild called the company’s offshoring of jobs “standard operating procedure.” It said employees get “long chirpy emails from the top brass on how well we’re doing and how much high-priced talent we’re hiring, but public silence on the forced departures of the workers who have created this success.”

CWA leads push for crackdown on offshoring call centre jobs

While the offshoring of editorial jobs is a fairly recent development in North America, it’s a firmly established practice for companies that operate call centres. The CWA, which represents more than 150,000 customer service and call centre workers throughout the U.S., is agressively pushing for legislation to crack down on companies that ship American jobs overseas.

More than 4,000 CWA members have called on Congress to pass the United States Call Center Worker and Consumer Protection Act. The bipartisan bill, sponsored by New York Democrat Tim Bishop and Republican David McKinley of West Virginia, would prevent companies that operate foreign call centres from receiving taxpayer assistance, put protections in place for U.S. consumers to know where their calls are going and provide consumers the right to be transferred back to a more secure call centre in the States.

The CWA argues that offshoring hurts not only workers, but small communities that offered tax breaks to lure jobs, and consumers, who are increasingly victims of identity theft, which has soared in the past decade. The union notes that the personal information of millions of Americans now resides in countries like India, the Philippines and Egypt, which lack basic security measures to safeguard their privacy.

British Columbians may soon know a lot less about what’s happening in the government’s backrooms, thanks to a recent change in how it responds to freedom of information requests.

In the past, those records — which have revealed everything from secret contracts awarded to the premier’s supporters, to which ministry has the worst performing bureaucrats — have only been given to the individuals who asked for them.

read entire story here