Gazette workers reject offer, Journal locks out staff in Montreal

Unionized employees in both the editorial and reader sales departments of the Montreal Gazette rejected the company's latest contract offer on Sunday.

The editorial department, which includes reporters, copy editors and photographers, voted80.5 per cent against the offer, according to a posting on the Gazette's website.

In reader sales and services, 73 per cent voted against the contract.

The vote followed a recommendation from the Montreal Newspaper Guild that its members reject the offer. There's no word yet whether workers will walk off the job.

Management at the Gazette had no immediate comment.

About 200 editorial, sales and advertising staff have been working without a contract since June. Employees voted in favour of a strike mandate in September.

Journal workers locked out

Also on the weekend, Journal de Montral managementdeclared a lockout of its editorial and office employees early Saturday.

About 250 employees have been without a contract since Dec. 31.

The dispute centres on potential layoffs, an increase in weekly hours without a pay boost, and a reduction in benefits and vacation time.

Workers began picketing outside the paper's east-end offices Saturday morning.

Quebecor Media is looking to restructure all its companies, streamlining the operation.

"The world is really about sharing content, information, and links," said Isabelle Dessureault, vice-president of public affairs for Quebecor Media.

"Le Journal de Montreal is part of an organization with 300 publications. We think that there are definite benefits for the readers to get this information. We never said we wanted to diminish the quality of our publication."

Union official Raynald Leblanc says employees are wary of this convergence model.

"What they say they want to do is bring into both the print and the web edition things taken from TVA, articles from [the free daily] 24 Heures or [the magazine] 7 Jours," Leblanc said.

"Ultimately, we could find ourselves with CD reviews from the [music store] Archambault website or stories about celebrities who star in Quebecor-produced content. Quebecor has tentacles everywhere."

Management at the paper will continue to publish during the lockout.