Unionized Globe employees reject latest offer

With 292 ballots cast, unionized Globe and Mail employees voted 89 per cent against accepting the latest contract offer from the newspaper’s management.

The current contract expires June 30 and last week union members voted 97 per cent in favour of authorizing a strike if an agreement isn’t reached.

According to the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union that represents employees, the offer sent to employees by email on Friday, June 26 included “pension benefits cuts of between 30 and 50%; salary reductions of several thousand dollars to a variety of wage categories; a general two-year wage freeze for all employees; longer work days and a longer work week without compensation; and many more concessions.”

Talks are set to resume on Tuesday, June 30, ahead of the midnight deadline.

Peter Murdoch, Media VP for the union said:

“We are concerned that CTV’s woes are at the Globe bargaining table. The union has offered significant financial relief to the newspaper. We can’t be expected to solve CTV’s problems as well.”

The union said it is prepared to strike and that a website for publishing material from Globe reporters and columnists is ready to go should it be needed.

When Winnipeg Free Press workers when on strike last October, employees continued to report the news from a website launched by a team of striking editors, photographers, reporters and columnists.