Free Press workers strike

At noon on Thanksgiving Monday Oct. 13, approximately 1000 staff members at the Winnipeg Free Press launched a strike action, reports CBC News.

With the federal election results coming in tonight, it is an important time for any news outlet.  Free Press union rep Mary Agnes Welch says reporters and editors from the newspaper are planning to create a website to cover the election for if a deal is not reached before that time.

On the flip side, Free Press publisher Bob Cox says a team of managers will post to the website as much as possible, including election night coverage.

Welsh, who is also president of the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), told CBC that the strike could be lengthy if a deal is not reached soon. She said:

“There’s enough stuff in this contract that makes people discouraged
and frustrated and upset, that I think as much as we hate it we’re
willing to really go to the wall for our fellow employees.”

The workers have been without a contract since Oct. 1. The strike also affected the National
Post, which is printed at the same presses and was not available in Winnipeg on Oct. 14, and some community papers.

Watch a CTV news segment on the strike here.