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Second Herald Union Hits Stone Wall
Pressmen seek mediation in talks with Calgary Herald
The union representing about 100 Calgary Herald press operators, mailers, paper handlers and platemakers asked on March 10, for a mediator to assist in its contract negotiations with the company.
Talks between the Graphic Communications International Union Local 34M and the Herald were suspended late on Thursday, March 9. During four days at the table, the company failed to address any of the union's fundamental issues, including wages, overtime and staffing levels.
The biggest hurdle in the talks, said union leaders, is the company's regressive proposal to change the four-day, 35-hour week now worked by those on the afternoon and night shift to a five-day, 37.5-hour week.
"The company's negotiator confirmed that if we agree to this change, some jobs will be lost," said John Webster, president of Local 34M.
"It's also a health and safety issue for our members to be working nights without enough time to recover between work weeks. The company has recognized this for the past 15 years, but now it's trying to worsen our conditions."
While newsroom and distribution-centre workers at the Herald have been on strike for a first contract with the company since Nov. 8, the 100-member pressmen's group has been working under a four-year contract, which was set to expire at midnight on March 31.
"The company has to realize that this bargaining is going on in the midst of a very difficult situation, where 135 Herald workers have been walking a picket line for four months," said Alan Tate, GCIU international representative and main negotiator. "Our members are angry at how their co-workers have been treated."
The union requested that Dan Kennedy, provincial director of mediation services, appoint a mediator.
"Hopefully, this will help us engage in meaningful bargaining that will lead to a fair contract," Webster said. "We need to hear how the company plans to deal with the major issues."
The GCIU is concerned by reports that the Herald is preparing for a labour disruption by training replacements to do the pressmen's highly skilled jobs. Such preparations suggest the company is not bargaining in good faith for the renewal of the contract.
"We have been told that they have been sending mid-level managers from the Herald and the Edmonton Journal to scab-training facilities in the U.S.," said Webster, who is an 18-year veteran Herald pressman.
"It's very dangerous for unqualified people to run the presses. It took me four years to earn my journeyman's certificate. It's frightening to think that the employer would be willing to sacrifice the limbs of unqualified managers."
No dates have been set for the resumption of talks.