The North Bay Newspaper Guild is frustrated by layoffs, consolidations and looming contract clawbacks as the Nugget’s corporate owners squeeze small-town assets to shore up losses in bigger centres.

A Facebook page, Friends of Local News, was launched today to express the unsavoury bargaining position 70 remaining Nugget employees are being forced into.

“We don’t want to strike, we don’t want to attack our employer, we want to grow the newspaper and its online products,” said Dave Dale, president of the Guild, a member of the CWA-Canada union.

“But negotiations are not going well as Sun Media erodes the benefit structure and offers pennies to the inserting mailroom employees who already earn the least amount — just today they proposed reducing the beginning hourly pay to minimum wage for any new hires.”

The frustration of losing eight more workers to layoffs this spring, which follows a previous layoff of six before Christmas 2008, as well as reduced front office hours, and recent tight-fisted bargaining positions has forced the Guild to seek the support of local readers and advertisers.

For the first time in 20 years, the Guild has bought an advertisement on a city bus asking supporters to: “Demand More Local Employment from Your Local Newspaper. The ad directs fans of local news to the Guild website at www.nbng.org where people are urged to send an email or letter to the Nugget publisher.

“And we hope the message is eventually heard in the top offices of Quebecor where the strategy to cut local assets and services to feed the corporate coffers begins,” Dale said.

“We have to do something and we hope this small step convinces the Nugget local services and employment is the key to success.”

The North Bay Nugget is reducing its workforce as part of a Quebecor-Sun Media consolidation to non-union shops in eastern and southern Ontario. Six ad designers and members of the North Bay Newspaper Guild CWA-Canada Local 30241, are being laid off effective May 28. Verbal notice has also been given that it won’t be long before news pages are paginated at the Sudbury Star, with at least one full-time senior employee to be terminated and another one will likely bump a junior reporter out of a position.

”We’re not happy with the reductions, we don’t believe they make good long-term business sense and they don’t reflect the support Nugget readers and advertisers continue to give this newspaper,” said Guild president Dave Dale. ”We hope our readers and advertisers take the time to tell our boss and his corporate bosses they expect local employment from their local newspaper.” These job losses are not a result of red ink. As far as the Guild can tell, the Nugget has made sizable profits every year despite the recession and industry challenges, Dale said. By June, another eight of the 41 full-time union positions at The Nugget will have evaporated, which means the North Bay area will lose substantial return on its investment in the local newspaper, Dale said.

In late 2008, six other people were axed, including two full-time photographers with more than 50 years of combined experience, one news department manager position was lost, one advertising manager position disappeared, a long-time maintenance person was given the heave-ho within a year of retirement and a long-time ad layout coordinator was severed. A year earlier, reader sales and service diminished by closing the office during half the normal business day, with good part-time people let go before that as the company set up a call-in ad sales centre near Ottawa.

On the upside, The Nugget and the area has benefited from work being moved here from other papers in the Sun Media chain. The Sudbury Star has been printed in North Bay for a couple of years, and it now prints The Orillia Packet and Times and Midland Free Press. Two of the six ad designers being laid off came to North Bay recently to cover increased workload after a Sudbury Star desktop department was closed, ending three jobs there. But the Guild expects more layoffs to come. Bargaining began for a new contract March 30 to replace the agreement that ended Dec. 31, 2009. Many Sun Media concessions were sought on the first day, including reductions in how much notice is given for layoffs caused by reorganization. It was announced during the second morning that the desktop department and its six positions was being closed due to reorganization, with talks halting shortly after. Negotiations are set to resume in mid-May after a presentation regarding a new benefits carrier explains how much more benefits will cost, and how many fewer benefits are offered, as well as the added complications of receiving them. During an emergency Guild meeting at the 406 Wing Squadron Hall April 11, an ad salesperson with the Kingston Whig gave an overview of what it’s like to coordinate ads with Sun Media’s non-union design shop in Barrie. Nugget sales people are now preparing for the transition and expected hiccups.

One of the North Bay Newspaper Guild’s chief proposals for a new agreement is returning mailing room staff wages to a level that is at least two dollars an hour more than minimum wage, as it was before recent increases in the cost of living and hikes in minimum wage. Non-monetary items at the table include a company demand that reporters give up all “moral right” to the stories, photos and videos they produce, which may mean materials can be altered and changed at any time after its initially published, even if it changes the context and opinion expressed by the author. The company also wants the freedom to demand all the documentation it desires, including sensitive and unrelated medical records, even for one sick day. Other items tossed on the table by the employer include a weeklong reduction in the holiday grid for the most senior and dedicated workers, deletion of a floating vacation day in trade for a statutory Family Day already given, and half as many guaranteed hours when scheduled for a stat holiday. In response to the local job losses, more than 75 surviving North Bay Newspaper Guild members want the public to know they care about The Nugget and its ability to continue producing a great local product.

”We don’t want our subscribers to stop paying for this product. We don’t want our advertisers to stop using this vehicle to do business. And we don’t want to go on strike or get locked out,” Dale said. ”But we can’t remain silent as good paying jobs are quietly shipped out of the very city that makes this newspaper profitable.” Please send an email to our publisher, Sun Media and Quebecor and demand more local jobs from your local newspaper. djohnson@nugget.ca & letters@nugget.ca.

Visit our website at www.nbng.org for contact information and bargaining updates.
Dave Dale, president of North Bay Newspaper Guild CWA-SCA Canada Local 30214 can be reached through his home telephone # at 705-752-1874.

We are holding a draw for our 2010 scholarships and awards at our news general meeting to be announced. Check back for more information.

The North Bay Newspaper Guild Local 30241 is holding a draw for its 2009 scholarships and awards at our next general meeting June 28. All union members and their children are eligible. Please see Glen Couvrette with the name of the applicant, the program or course and the name of the post-secondary institution he/she will attend written on a piece of paper.

Available awards:

Christine Gaudreau Book Award:

A single bursary of $200 for Local members’ children enrolled in post-secondary education. The award is designed to assist with the cost of books and tuition.

North Bay Newspaper Guild Education Bursary:

A single annual award of $500 for Local members’ children enrolled in post-secondary education. The award is designed to provide financial assistance.

Local 30241 Scholarship Award: (self improvement)

A bursary of $100 distributed once during fall and once during spring for union members pursuing educational courses for self-improvement. These courses do not have to be geared to your current employment. Self improvement can encompass a wide variety of programs including computer training, electrical, art, etc . . .
- Since this bursary was not awarded to anyone in 2008, the local will award two $100 bursaries in June 2009 and two in the fall.

Arnie Hakala Scholarship Award:

A single annual award of $300 for Local members’ children enrolled in post-secondary education studying in the fields of environmental or health studies.

The deadline is May 31, 2009