At a general meeting Sunday afternoon of the Montreal Newspaper Guild, the union which represents Gazette employees, editorial and reader sales workers overwhelmingly rejected an offer from their employer for a new four-year contract.
The primary reason for the rejection was the employer's demand to change language on union jurisdiction, which is a clause in the contract that says any work done for The Gazette must be done by members of its union. Management wanted to add language that would allow them to freely outsource jobs outside the province.
For Editorial (the unit I belong to), the vote results were 23 for, 95 against for an 80.5% rejection. For (what's left of) Reader Sales and Service, the results were 4 votes for and 11 votes against for a 74% rejection.
In a separate meeting, the advertising bargaining unit approved a new four two-year deal by a vote of 17-9 (65%). That unit had a weaker strike mandate (59%) and the vote was expected to be close.
Classified and business office workers are under a separate contract which is still in effect.
More coverage:
Any word on what this means in terms of production of the newspaper?
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