Vol. 73/No. 8      March 2, 2009

The picket line has been up since January 24, when 253 office and editorial workers were locked out by the newspaper bosses. The Journal de Montréal is the most widely read French-language paper in Montreal. It has never had a strike or a lockout.

The workers are members of the Journal’s newspaper workers’ union, which is affiliated to the CSN, a major Quebec labor federation. Their contract expired on Dec. 31, 2008. Two days after the lockout the workers voted to reject the company’s final offer and by 99 percent decided to go on strike.

The union states that Quebecor Media bosses have made 230 demands, including eliminating almost 75 jobs, lengthening the workweek by 25 percent without compensation, cutting salaries of some workers, and reducing benefits by 20 percent.

According to the union, last year the newspaper made $50 million in profits on revenue of $200 million. The strikers report the paper is continuing to publish using management scabs. In 14 years Quebecor Media has initiated 13 lockouts at its media enterprises, the last one for 16 months at the Journal de Québec.

The workers have started their own online newspaper, www.ruefrontenac.com. Other unionists have joined the picket lines. Strikers told the Militant these included Petro-Canada workers who recently pushed back a concessions drive by their bosses after a lockout of more than a year.

—John Steele

Service workers strike for pay
raise at Berlin airports
Two-hour strikes by service workers in Berlin’s two international airports forced flight delays and cancellations February 12. Workers in the Verdi union carried out the stoppages to demand an 8 percent pay raise.

The Berlin Airports Web site reported at least 10 flights at Tegel and Schoenefeld airports were canceled and at least 10 more delayed. About 250 workers are taking part in the stoppages, reported Bloomberg news agency.

Verdi is organizing brief work stoppages across Germany this month, calling for 8 percent pay increases for more than 700,000 public sector workers.

—Sam Manuel

City workers in Ukraine
demand pay increases
Some 5,000 municipal workers picketed the city administration of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, February 12, protesting budget cuts and demanding pay increases. The demonstrators included representatives of the Ukrainian Trade Union Federation and budget sector workers.

City workers are demanding to be paid on time, with all bonuses. Street traffic was blocked by the protests, reported the Kyiv Post.

—Sam Manuel  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home