Ever wonder why the Journal de Montréal doesn’t have a real website? Legal reasons, apparently.

Apparently the Journal’s union contract has some vague language about the use of its members’ work on the Internet. It states that the Journal’s parent organization can use the content online, provided certain silly requirements are met (the Journal’s logo has to appear, and people can’t be assigned exclusively online unless they’re given a new job title or something).

An extra sentence added later says that the employer should negotiate before starting a new website.

The union tried to sue, claiming Quebecor broke the agreement by setting up this kinda-website without talking to them first.

The judge saw right through their flimsy argument, referring the case to union arbitration.

Hopefully that will talk some sense into both sides. This is a really stupid reason for the Journal not to have a true web presence for itself.