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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Sunday, March 15, 2009
PAPER CUTS
WILL HURT NOVA SCOTIANS, RALLY HEARS
A strong Chronicle Herald newsroom is a vital part
of Nova Scotia, a long list of speakers told a rally in support of local
news coverage at the Halifax Grand Parade on Saturday afternoon.
The “Keep Our News Local” event was organized by
Halifax Typographical Union, Local 30130 of The Newspaper Guild /
Communications Workers of America, Canada.
HTU represents about 140 employees in the
composing, newsroom and pressroom units at The Halifax Herald Ltd.
The company announced Feb. 3 its intention to
eliminate 24 newsroom jobs. Layoffs and voluntary buyouts among
unionized staff take effect next Thursday, March 19.
Several speakers said they’re worried that looming
cuts to Chronicle Herald newsroom staff will hobble a vital public
service.
“The answer is not to diminish local news. It is
to enhance local news,” said Stephen Kimber, the Rogers Communications
Chair in Journalism at the University’s of Kings College in Halifax.
Kimber, who teaches in the university’s School of
Journalism, noted the Herald’s recent coverage of Nova Scotia’s
restaurant inspection system resulted in inspection reports being made
public and posted online for the first time.
Politicians, labour representatives and other
community leaders agreed the public needs to know what’s happening in
their communities, instead of having to rely more on news produced in
larger centres such as Ottawa and Toronto.
“The Chronicle Herald is the way we have a
conversation with each other and tell each other our stories,” said
Halifax Needham MLA Maureen MacDonald, representing the provincial New
Democratic Party Caucus.
New Democrat MPs Megan Leslie (Halifax) and Peter
Stoffer (Sackville-Eastern Shore) also attended the rally, as did
several MLAs and Halifax Regional councillors.
Kings South MLA David Morse, representing the
Progressive Conservative Caucus of Nova Scotia, said he depends daily on
local media, including The Chronicle Herald, to help him do his job.
“We’re losing some (local content) and that’s a
concern,” Morse, who is also provincial environment minister, told the
crowd. He noted these are difficult times for the Dennis family, which
owns the newspaper, as well as for employees.
Labour representatives decried the elimination of
25 per cent of the Herald’s unionized newsroom staff, saying the company
should look for other ways to save money.
You provide a vital service to Nova Scotians,”
said Martha Brown, first vice-president of the Nova Scotia Government &
General Employees Union (NSGEU). “These cuts will affect the quality of
news coverage.”
Officials from the Canadian Labour Congress,
Halifax-Dartmouth and District Labour Council and the Municipal
Association of Police Personnel (MAPP) were also on hand.
In addition to Saturday’s rally, HTU has also
launched an online Keep Our News Local campaign. The public is invited
to join by visiting www.htunion.ca.
For more information, contact:
Peter Duffy,President, Halifax Typographical Union
cell 448-5821
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 12, 2009
RALLY
AGAINST PAPER CUTS THAT HURT LOCAL NEWS COVERAGE
From Yarmouth to Sydney, Nova Scotians will lose
local news coverage as a result of 24 newsroom jobs being eliminated at
The Chronicle Herald.
A public rally in support of local news will be
held on Saturday, March 14 in the Grand Parade in front of Halifax City
Hall, starting at 2 p.m. The “Keep Our News Local” event is being
organized by the Halifax Typographical Union, Local 30130 of The
Newspaper Guild / Communications Workers of America, Canada.
HTU, founded in 1869, represents about 140
employees in the composing, newsroom and pressroom units at The Halifax
Herald Ltd.
“More than any other medium, newspapers serve as
the gathering place of the community,” says HTU president Peter Duffy.
“People come to our pages to learn what’s going on in their community
and make informed decisions affecting the common good, just as our
ancestors did in actual village squares. Anything diminishing that flow
of information, therefore, should be a concern to everyone.”
Duffy says the situation is particularly critical
here in Nova Scotia, where the Herald is the only newspaper covering our
province from end to end.
The HTU president predicts the savage staff cuts
happening at the Herald must inevitably mean less coverage of local news
on a wide scale because many stories carried by radio and TV stations
have their origins in Herald stories.
The company has announced it’s closing down the
Amherst bureau, as well as reducing the number of reporters working in
the Annapolis Valley and Truro areas. Duffy and fellow longtime
columnists Tim Arsenault (TV) and Joel Jacobson (Bright Spot) will
disappear from the news pages. Experienced reporters covering city hall,
education, health, military, sports and Supreme Court are also leaving.
Fewer photos and illustrations will accompany local stories.
Layoffs and voluntary buyouts in the newsroom take
effect next Thursday, March 19.
The Herald has announced it’s laying off nine
employees in non-unionized parts of its operation. However, no cutbacks
have been made to newsroom management or in areas that would maintain
local news coverage by saving jobs.
Nova Scotia politicians and labour leaders will be
participating in Saturday’s rally. Members of the public are also
invited to attend.
For more information, contact
Peter Duffy
President, Halifax Typographical Union
cell 448-5821
Our Latest Newsletter
History
The Halifax Typographical Union (Local
30130 of
TNG Canada) was founded
on Sept. 21, 1869, making it among the oldest craft locals in Canada. It
represents more about 140 workers at
The
Chronicle Herald in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The local represents about 11 composing
room employees, whose contract runs from Jan. 1, 2005 to Dec. 31, 2009;
about 15 press room employees, who are currently negotiating a new
collective agreement, and more than 100 newsroom employees, whose
contract runs from Nov. 21, 2003 to Nov. 20, 2007.
The composing room unit was certified in
1869, as part of the former International Typographical Union. The
newsroom bargaining unit was certified in April 1999. Press room
employees, formerly members of the Graphic Communications International
Union, voted to join the Halifax Typographical Union in the spring of
2006 and were officially counted as part of the local in late June 2006.
The Chronicle Herald is the largest
daily newspaper in Atlantic Canada, as well as the country’s largest
independent, family-owned newspaper.
