The union which represents workers at The Telegram newspaper in St. John’s says it has not agreed to any concessions during the purchase of Saltwire by Toronto-based Postmedia.
There are agreements that Postmedia is seeking from Unifor about switching to their benefit and pension plans after the closing, but the union says they are not concessions and were not part of the conditions built into the Asset Purchase Agreement. The concessions in that agreement affected workers in Cape Breton and Halifax represented by other unions: the CWA and the Halifax Typographical Union.
Meanwhile, Unifor says the purchase by Postmedia does not include the Telegram printing press on Austin Street in St. John’s, the last wide-format press in the province. Unifor Atlantic Regional Director Jennifer Murray says that omission creates great uncertainty for the future of print media in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Murray says, “In a world of increasingly manipulated online content, there’s accountability and an unshakeable trust that comes with printed news.”
Unifor says it was not asked to, nor did it, give any concessions from the 37 employees it represent at The Telegram. There are other employees at the newspaper who are represented by other unions.