Journalists protest at Quebecor annual meeting

Journal du Québec employees and other union representatives protested outside Quebecor Inc.’s June 26 annual general meeting, according to a Canadian Press report. 

Quebecor has been mired in battles with editorial and office staff in Quebec for more than a year. Last year, employees at Le Journal de Québec were locked out by Sun Media Corp. when negotiations failed and now, CP reports, similar negotiations have started up again at Le Journal de Montreal.

A group of former employees of the Journal du Québec left the paper last year to start up a competing free daily, MediaMatinQuébec, which has been running successfully for 15 months.

The debates with Quebecor are over how journalists are involved in multimedia initiatives, what and when articles can be posted to the web and whether journalists are expected to use Blackberries or video when reporting the news.

At the annual meeting, CEO Pierre Karl Peladeau said:

This reality is unavoidable and has greatly affected the whole industry…If we can’t adapt our work methods to these new realities, ultimately these activities will simply disappear. We hope for an end to these conflicts but at the same time, we will maintain our clear objectives that concern the long-term survival of our activities.