Members of the Montreal Newspaper Guild have voted in favour of giving their executive committee a strike mandate in contract negotiations with The Gazette.
The votes in favour of a strike are as follows: Reader sales and service employees voted 100%, editorial employees voted 98%, and advertising employees, 59%.
“This sends a strong message to the employer that we are united in our determination to achieve a fair collective agreement,” said MNG president Mona Leroux.
Gazette publisher Alan Allnutt said he was surprised to learn the Guild call for a vote. “We have had only a few negotiating sessions to date, and we felt the tone of the talks was quite good. We have four days of negotiations scheduled for the coming week and we expect to make progress.”
The two sides met Tuesday and Wednesday, but no new talks have been scheduled, said Jean-Pierre Tremblay, vice-president of human resources at The Gazette.
“The Ottawa Citizen has the same owner (Canwest) and same union, and they recently signed a new contract (11% wage increase over five years), and we have the same settlement in mind. The only difference is that we’re looking for four-year contract, and the Guild wants a three-year contract.”
The three units, which represent about 190 employees, have been without a contract since June 1.
