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Newspaper Strike

Not Over

 

 

 

Eileen Velthuis
News Editor

A labour dispute which erupted at The Province and The
Vancouver Sun’s downtown Vancouver and Kennedy Heights
(Surrey) facilities on Tuesday, July 2 has readers of BC’s two
major daily newspapers fuming.

According to The Province and The Vancouver Sun’s manage-
ment, the dispute has resulted in 1050 unionized Pacific Press
employees going on strike over wages and other contract issues.
Pacific Press is a division of Southam, owned by CanWest Global
Communications. They were in contract negotiations with the
union—the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP)
Local 2000—prior to the dispute.

The union, which represents reporters, sales staff and press
operators said that the employees had been locked out.

The papers have had 13 labour disruptions since 1967, one
lasting for nine months in 1978 and 1979. However, this is the first
major dispute since Winnipeg-based CanWest bought the
Southam chain in 2000.

In the meantime, all publication and distribution of the news-
papers is suspended until the dispute is over, and readers will just
have to wait for the parties to settle.

“It's ridiculous,” Jenny Ready, a Port Coquitlam Province sub-
scriber said. “Il really enjoy reading my paper every day. | wish
they’d get on with it”

Phone calls to Pacific Press and the CEP Local 2000 were not
returned as of press time, and there is currently no sign of when
the strike will be settled.

VAs