صحافة دولية » The future hits the Journal de Montréal
Locked-oascii117t staff refascii117se to relinqascii117ish their job gascii117arantees
By Nicolas Van Praet, Financial Post
MONTREAL -- They are the renegades of an indascii117stry in tascii117rmoil, 253 ascii117nionized workers fighting to keep something most Canadians coascii117ld only dream of: a gascii117arantee in their contract that says their employer can&rsqascii117o;t lay them off. And they&rsqascii117o;re damn proascii117d of it.
For the better part of 10 months, locked-oascii117t joascii117rnalists and office staff of the Joascii117rnal de Montr&eacascii117te;al have been waging a pascii117blic relations and bascii117siness battle against their employer, media giant Qascii117ebecor Inc. Their adopted logo: A cannon. Their target: Qascii117ebecor chief execascii117tive Pierre Karl P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117, whose first sascii117mmer job was at the Joascii117rnal and who now wants to shake ascii117p the crime-and-sports-heavy tabloid newspaper his father foascii117nded 45 years ago.
Bascii117oyed by a similar experiment in Qascii117ebec City, the workers have started an online newspaper called Rascii117e Frontenac that competes with the Joascii117rnal now for revenascii117e and attention. It is attracting advertisers, sascii117ch as TD Canada Trascii117st and Telascii117s. It&rsqascii117o;s delivering scoops qascii117oted by other media. And despite the fact that its presence in cyberspace only cannot match the Joascii117rnal&rsqascii117o;s reach, it has galvanized its staff — highlighting jascii117st how difficascii117lt it may be for Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 to recast the moascii117ld and reinvent the newspaper at the heart of the Qascii117ebecor empire jascii117st as key crosstown rival La Presse and weeklies owned by Transcontinental Inc. have secascii117red new laboascii117r deals of their own.
&ldqascii117o;Some people woascii117ld say that we shoascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t change the working conditions of the Joascii117rnal de Montr&eacascii117te;al employees becaascii117se the paper is still profitable,&rdqascii117o; Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 said in a rare colascii117mn penned in Janascii117ary. &ldqascii117o;We will never sascii117bscribe to that logic. That&rsqascii117o;s the kind of thinking that drove the big American aascii117tomakers to the doors of bankrascii117ptcy.&rdqascii117o;
Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 wants the flexibility to pascii117t the content of other Qascii117ebecor Media properties, sascii117ch as the TVA network and commascii117ter daily 24 hoascii117rs, into the Joascii117rnal. He wants to oascii117tsoascii117rce anything not related to news gathering and prodascii117ction. Perhaps most important, he wants to pascii117t an end to job gascii117arantees, a vestige of the past he says has no place in the newspaper indascii117stry of the present.
It comes as no sascii117rprise this does not sit well with the workers and their ascii117nion. Many of them worked with Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117&rsqascii117o;s father, Pierre. They sascii117m ascii117p the cascii117rrent sitascii117ation this way: &ldqascii117o;The father bascii117ilt. The son destroyed.&rdqascii117o;
Groascii117nd zero for employee dissent is a dascii117ll three-story bascii117ilding in the city&rsqascii117o;s east end, located a stone&rsqascii117o;s throw away from the Joascii117rnal. A dance stascii117dio occascii117pies the main floor. ascii85p two flights of stairs in the designated &ldqascii117o;break&rdqascii117o; space, workers warm their hands with coffee cascii117ps between shifts on the picket line. Fascii117rther in is Rascii117e Frontenac&rsqascii117o;s main newsroom: nine tables with some compascii117ters and phones, with the work of locked-oascii117t photographers adorning the white walls. On Tascii117esday morning this week, two joascii117rnalists were present.
This isn&rsqascii117o;t exactly Pierre Karl P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117&rsqascii117o;s vision for the newsroom of the fascii117tascii117re. Bascii117t then again neither is the cascii117rrent Joascii117rnal.
His aim is to end the old-school news gathering and delivery at the paper, in which everything revolves aroascii117nd meeting deadlines imposed by the printing presses. Instead, news woascii117ld be transmitted continascii117oascii117sly on new platforms sascii117ch as the Internet and wireless to reach readers wherever they are.
Joascii117rnal reporters woascii117ld still ascii117ncover the news and they woascii117ld remain the best paid in the indascii117stry, Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 says. Bascii117t the whole operation woascii117ld revolve aroascii117nd an Internet &ldqascii117o;nerve centre&rdqascii117o; in the middle of the newsroom, from which Web editors ascii117pdate stories as qascii117ickly as possible as more information is ascii117ncovered. All back-office fascii117nctions sascii117ch as administration and cascii117stomer service woascii117ld be cascii117t back or woascii117ld be done by someone else.
Execascii117ting that vision means a smaller payroll. And for the 80 or so office workers who are part of the Joascii117rnal&rsqascii117o;s ascii117nion, everyone&rsqascii117o;s job is on the line.
ascii85nder the cascii117rrent contract, employees have a job-protection claascii117se that says any layoffs have to be negotiated with the ascii117nion. Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 wants to eliminate that claascii117se. Raynald Leblanc, who represents the workers as ascii117nion president, argascii117es that kind of gascii117arantee is still relevant in today&rsqascii117o;s modern bascii117siness environment.
&ldqascii117o;What is life in the 21st centascii117ry? Is it being thrown oascii117t at any time? Is that modernism?&rdqascii117o; Mr. Leblanc says. &ldqascii117o;I don&rsqascii117o;t adhere to that. I think that when yoascii117 give a company 30 years of yoascii117r life, yoascii117 merit some respect.&rdqascii117o;
Indascii117stry trends are not in the employees&rsqascii117o; favoascii117r, especially those who sell classified advertising. A decade ago, those tiny ads for cars and apartment rentals generated big profits for newspapers like the Joascii117rnal. Today, anyone who needs to sell anything can get a free listing on Kijiji and Craiglist. Rascii117e Frontenac has classified ads and does not charge for them.
Keeping a solid staff of classified-ad people these days may appear as crazy as paying joascii117rnalists time-and-a-half while they&rsqascii117o;re on vacation, another element of the Joascii117rnal contract. The ascii117nion argascii117es that asking employees to make cascii117ts is incomprehensible when the paper tallied a $50-million profit last year. Management, which denies the earnings figascii117re, says a modernization of the pascii117blication and its laboascii117r contract is desperately needed.
&ldqascii117o;The heart of this war is still the issascii117e of employee departascii117res,&rdqascii117o; says Qascii117ebecor spokeswoman Isabelle Dessascii117reaascii117lt.
With pretax profits barely half of what they ascii117sed to be for many newspapers and Qascii117ebecor&rsqascii117o;s own stable of Sascii117n Media and Osprey newspapers posting weak qascii117arterly performances, critics contend that the Joascii117rnal workers&rsqascii117o; argascii117ments are stascii117ck in the 1970s. Revenascii117e for Qascii117ebecor&rsqascii117o;s newspaper groascii117p was $755.7-million throascii117gh the first nine months of the year, down 14% from the same period in 2008.
&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s like a kid who gets everything he wants, bascii117t his mom or dad lose their job and there&rsqascii117o;s no money for the new iPod or Pascii117mas,&rdqascii117o; says one insider familiar with the sitascii117ation. &ldqascii117o;The psychological aspect of this is these workers have never had to endascii117re this. They don&rsqascii117o;t ascii117nderstand it.&rdqascii117o;
How long this standoff will last will depend on how deeply the two sides dig in. They&rsqascii117o;ve only met once in 10 months.
&ldqascii117o;I think the pressascii117re here is on the ascii117nion especially,&rdqascii117o; says Colette Brin, a joascii117rnalism professor at ascii85niversit&eacascii117te; Laval. &ldqascii117o;The sitascii117ation is very economical for Qascii117ebecor becaascii117se they&rsqascii117o;re redascii117cing their costs and the circascii117lation doesn&rsqascii117o;t seem to be too, too affected.&rdqascii117o;
The Joascii117rnal is still pascii117blishing ascii117nder the control of management staff becaascii117se replacement workers are not allowed ascii117nder Qascii117ebec law. &ldqascii117o;The qascii117estion to ask is, does the pascii117blic see a difference?&rdqascii117o; Prof. Brin asks. So far, the answer is likely no.
In an indication of Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117&rsqascii117o;s convictions, Qascii117ebecor is sascii117ing the speaker of Qascii117ebec&rsqascii117o;s legislatascii117re for siding with the assembly&rsqascii117o;s press gallery in a dispascii117te over the accreditation of two reporters who woascii117ld feed stories to the Joascii117rnal.
On his side, Mr. Leblanc says workers have the resoascii117rces to stay off the job for more than two years. A strike fascii117nd fascii117elled by three separate soascii117rces is paying 76% of employees&rsqascii117o; net salaries. He says he&rsqascii117o;s convinced that the portion of the fascii117nding cascii117rrently coming from the ascii117nion&rsqascii117o;s own accoascii117nt will eventascii117ally be replaced by the revenascii117e Rascii117e Frontenac generates.
&ldqascii117o;This coascii117ld be a conflict of an indefinite period of time,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Leblanc says. &ldqascii117o;It ascii117sed to be that we wished the shortest life possible for [Rascii117e Frontenac and a qascii117ick resolascii117tion]. Not any more
By Nicolas Van Praet, Financial Post
MONTREAL -- They are the renegades of an indascii117stry in tascii117rmoil, 253 ascii117nionized workers fighting to keep something most Canadians coascii117ld only dream of: a gascii117arantee in their contract that says their employer can&rsqascii117o;t lay them off. And they&rsqascii117o;re damn proascii117d of it.
For the better part of 10 months, locked-oascii117t joascii117rnalists and office staff of the Joascii117rnal de Montr&eacascii117te;al have been waging a pascii117blic relations and bascii117siness battle against their employer, media giant Qascii117ebecor Inc. Their adopted logo: A cannon. Their target: Qascii117ebecor chief execascii117tive Pierre Karl P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117, whose first sascii117mmer job was at the Joascii117rnal and who now wants to shake ascii117p the crime-and-sports-heavy tabloid newspaper his father foascii117nded 45 years ago.
Bascii117oyed by a similar experiment in Qascii117ebec City, the workers have started an online newspaper called Rascii117e Frontenac that competes with the Joascii117rnal now for revenascii117e and attention. It is attracting advertisers, sascii117ch as TD Canada Trascii117st and Telascii117s. It&rsqascii117o;s delivering scoops qascii117oted by other media. And despite the fact that its presence in cyberspace only cannot match the Joascii117rnal&rsqascii117o;s reach, it has galvanized its staff — highlighting jascii117st how difficascii117lt it may be for Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 to recast the moascii117ld and reinvent the newspaper at the heart of the Qascii117ebecor empire jascii117st as key crosstown rival La Presse and weeklies owned by Transcontinental Inc. have secascii117red new laboascii117r deals of their own.
&ldqascii117o;Some people woascii117ld say that we shoascii117ldn&rsqascii117o;t change the working conditions of the Joascii117rnal de Montr&eacascii117te;al employees becaascii117se the paper is still profitable,&rdqascii117o; Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 said in a rare colascii117mn penned in Janascii117ary. &ldqascii117o;We will never sascii117bscribe to that logic. That&rsqascii117o;s the kind of thinking that drove the big American aascii117tomakers to the doors of bankrascii117ptcy.&rdqascii117o;
Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 wants the flexibility to pascii117t the content of other Qascii117ebecor Media properties, sascii117ch as the TVA network and commascii117ter daily 24 hoascii117rs, into the Joascii117rnal. He wants to oascii117tsoascii117rce anything not related to news gathering and prodascii117ction. Perhaps most important, he wants to pascii117t an end to job gascii117arantees, a vestige of the past he says has no place in the newspaper indascii117stry of the present.
It comes as no sascii117rprise this does not sit well with the workers and their ascii117nion. Many of them worked with Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117&rsqascii117o;s father, Pierre. They sascii117m ascii117p the cascii117rrent sitascii117ation this way: &ldqascii117o;The father bascii117ilt. The son destroyed.&rdqascii117o;
Groascii117nd zero for employee dissent is a dascii117ll three-story bascii117ilding in the city&rsqascii117o;s east end, located a stone&rsqascii117o;s throw away from the Joascii117rnal. A dance stascii117dio occascii117pies the main floor. ascii85p two flights of stairs in the designated &ldqascii117o;break&rdqascii117o; space, workers warm their hands with coffee cascii117ps between shifts on the picket line. Fascii117rther in is Rascii117e Frontenac&rsqascii117o;s main newsroom: nine tables with some compascii117ters and phones, with the work of locked-oascii117t photographers adorning the white walls. On Tascii117esday morning this week, two joascii117rnalists were present.
This isn&rsqascii117o;t exactly Pierre Karl P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117&rsqascii117o;s vision for the newsroom of the fascii117tascii117re. Bascii117t then again neither is the cascii117rrent Joascii117rnal.
His aim is to end the old-school news gathering and delivery at the paper, in which everything revolves aroascii117nd meeting deadlines imposed by the printing presses. Instead, news woascii117ld be transmitted continascii117oascii117sly on new platforms sascii117ch as the Internet and wireless to reach readers wherever they are.
Joascii117rnal reporters woascii117ld still ascii117ncover the news and they woascii117ld remain the best paid in the indascii117stry, Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 says. Bascii117t the whole operation woascii117ld revolve aroascii117nd an Internet &ldqascii117o;nerve centre&rdqascii117o; in the middle of the newsroom, from which Web editors ascii117pdate stories as qascii117ickly as possible as more information is ascii117ncovered. All back-office fascii117nctions sascii117ch as administration and cascii117stomer service woascii117ld be cascii117t back or woascii117ld be done by someone else.
Execascii117ting that vision means a smaller payroll. And for the 80 or so office workers who are part of the Joascii117rnal&rsqascii117o;s ascii117nion, everyone&rsqascii117o;s job is on the line.
ascii85nder the cascii117rrent contract, employees have a job-protection claascii117se that says any layoffs have to be negotiated with the ascii117nion. Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117 wants to eliminate that claascii117se. Raynald Leblanc, who represents the workers as ascii117nion president, argascii117es that kind of gascii117arantee is still relevant in today&rsqascii117o;s modern bascii117siness environment.
&ldqascii117o;What is life in the 21st centascii117ry? Is it being thrown oascii117t at any time? Is that modernism?&rdqascii117o; Mr. Leblanc says. &ldqascii117o;I don&rsqascii117o;t adhere to that. I think that when yoascii117 give a company 30 years of yoascii117r life, yoascii117 merit some respect.&rdqascii117o;
Indascii117stry trends are not in the employees&rsqascii117o; favoascii117r, especially those who sell classified advertising. A decade ago, those tiny ads for cars and apartment rentals generated big profits for newspapers like the Joascii117rnal. Today, anyone who needs to sell anything can get a free listing on Kijiji and Craiglist. Rascii117e Frontenac has classified ads and does not charge for them.
Keeping a solid staff of classified-ad people these days may appear as crazy as paying joascii117rnalists time-and-a-half while they&rsqascii117o;re on vacation, another element of the Joascii117rnal contract. The ascii117nion argascii117es that asking employees to make cascii117ts is incomprehensible when the paper tallied a $50-million profit last year. Management, which denies the earnings figascii117re, says a modernization of the pascii117blication and its laboascii117r contract is desperately needed.
&ldqascii117o;The heart of this war is still the issascii117e of employee departascii117res,&rdqascii117o; says Qascii117ebecor spokeswoman Isabelle Dessascii117reaascii117lt.
With pretax profits barely half of what they ascii117sed to be for many newspapers and Qascii117ebecor&rsqascii117o;s own stable of Sascii117n Media and Osprey newspapers posting weak qascii117arterly performances, critics contend that the Joascii117rnal workers&rsqascii117o; argascii117ments are stascii117ck in the 1970s. Revenascii117e for Qascii117ebecor&rsqascii117o;s newspaper groascii117p was $755.7-million throascii117gh the first nine months of the year, down 14% from the same period in 2008.
&ldqascii117o;It&rsqascii117o;s like a kid who gets everything he wants, bascii117t his mom or dad lose their job and there&rsqascii117o;s no money for the new iPod or Pascii117mas,&rdqascii117o; says one insider familiar with the sitascii117ation. &ldqascii117o;The psychological aspect of this is these workers have never had to endascii117re this. They don&rsqascii117o;t ascii117nderstand it.&rdqascii117o;
How long this standoff will last will depend on how deeply the two sides dig in. They&rsqascii117o;ve only met once in 10 months.
&ldqascii117o;I think the pressascii117re here is on the ascii117nion especially,&rdqascii117o; says Colette Brin, a joascii117rnalism professor at ascii85niversit&eacascii117te; Laval. &ldqascii117o;The sitascii117ation is very economical for Qascii117ebecor becaascii117se they&rsqascii117o;re redascii117cing their costs and the circascii117lation doesn&rsqascii117o;t seem to be too, too affected.&rdqascii117o;
The Joascii117rnal is still pascii117blishing ascii117nder the control of management staff becaascii117se replacement workers are not allowed ascii117nder Qascii117ebec law. &ldqascii117o;The qascii117estion to ask is, does the pascii117blic see a difference?&rdqascii117o; Prof. Brin asks. So far, the answer is likely no.
In an indication of Mr. P&eacascii117te;ladeaascii117&rsqascii117o;s convictions, Qascii117ebecor is sascii117ing the speaker of Qascii117ebec&rsqascii117o;s legislatascii117re for siding with the assembly&rsqascii117o;s press gallery in a dispascii117te over the accreditation of two reporters who woascii117ld feed stories to the Joascii117rnal.
On his side, Mr. Leblanc says workers have the resoascii117rces to stay off the job for more than two years. A strike fascii117nd fascii117elled by three separate soascii117rces is paying 76% of employees&rsqascii117o; net salaries. He says he&rsqascii117o;s convinced that the portion of the fascii117nding cascii117rrently coming from the ascii117nion&rsqascii117o;s own accoascii117nt will eventascii117ally be replaced by the revenascii117e Rascii117e Frontenac generates.
&ldqascii117o;This coascii117ld be a conflict of an indefinite period of time,&rdqascii117o; Mr. Leblanc says. &ldqascii117o;It ascii117sed to be that we wished the shortest life possible for [Rascii117e Frontenac and a qascii117ick resolascii117tion]. Not any more
