Herald Still Striking
Two hundred and thirty members of the news-room staff of the CalgaryHerald have been on strike since November 8. The editorial anddistribution staff, members of the Communications Energy andPaperworkers union and Graphic Communications International Union,have been attempting to bargain with Herald management since theywalked out in November. Their demands:
. We want a fair wage grid.
. We want a seniority clause to protect
workers from indiscriminatelayoffs at management's whim.
. We want
our existing benefits written into the contract.
. GCIU members want
work schedules allowing them two consecutivedays off.
The editorial staff's major concern is over the wholesalerestructuring of the editorial workers to, likely, more closelyconform to Black's extremely conservative viewpoints. The latest roundof bargaining on February 1 broke off after "the company refused tobudge from its Oct. 29, 1999 bargaining position. Instead, itsnegotiators took a hard line position that would give the Herald theunchallenged right to target individual employees. The company wouldbe able to fire workers without providing a reason, adequatecompensation, or effective means of appeal." (source)
Striking workers, concerned over management interference in editorial content, have been largely replaced by former employees and staff from other newspapers in Conrad Black's empire (CEO of Hollinger Inc., Black controls over60% of Canadian daily newspapers). Examples of management interference can be found at the strike'sofficial web site (www.heraldunion.com). There you can read a letter from Mr. Black outlining his rather alarming position on the strike ("The present strike is an attempted left-wing coup d'tat in the newsroom of the Calgary Herald, which serves a community that includes very few mindless socialists of the type you [Jim Sinclair, of CAW] would find convivial.")
Using workers brought in from other newspapers, former employees and free-lance writers and editors (including two from the University of Calgary), the Herald has continued to publish their paper, using it to repeatedly print their position (the only opinion pieces still online are thisnegative one and another reprinted in the National Post). Black has used his attempt at a Globe and Mail to publish a number of negative editorials about the strike: one, and two, three, four, and five(apparently containing numerous errors). To his credit he has published at least one negative account of the strike, byJim Stanford of the Canadian Auto Workers union. Flipside.org also has some coverage of this.
The Calgary Herald has a much more powerful position in the strike, of course: backed by the largest newspaper chain in Canada, they can wait indefinitely while strikers survive on meager pay from the union and their personal savings accounts, in some cases using their retirement funds. Herald management continues to use hired security officers to police and intimidate the strikers. In somewhat good news, though, the Herald has lost almost a quarter of its subscribers since the strike started; if you still buy orsubscribe to the Calgary Herald or National Post, I urge you tostop, at least until the strike has been resolved.