Days after a lockout ended with 80% of employees getting severance and only three journalists remaining, those three journalists have said they’d rather quit than return to work at the paper, according to Radio-Canada.
Which begs the question: Why did they approve the contract? Just to get the severance?
I’m talking without specific knowledge here, but maybe THEY (those 3) didn’t approve it.
This is true. The vote was 68%, so it was hardly unanimous. But either way, some people definitely voted for it and are now unemployed.
I keep reading that there are only five positions left, but there are in fact quite a few more. The “5 out of 25” thing only relates to the union that had been locked out (STER-CSN).
The sales reps are still there along with a few non-unionised employees. All in all, there are still around 18 people working at Le Réveil. Well, 15 now, I guess, but they’ll eventually have to hire new journalists. Bottom line is the actual headcount is 18, not 5.
I think Jean-François may be right in assessing that those three were not too keen on accepting the offer. For those whose jobs were saved, the severance package was only half what the others were getting in the event that they chose to turn down the job, which is of course still better than the big fat nothing we ordinary peole get when we resign.