Settlement at Journal de Québec !
July 2, 2008 08:13 PM
CUPE members at le Journal de Québec have voted 96 per cent in favour of a tentative agreement reached late last night with Québecor.
Leadership of the three locals involved in the 438 day work stoppage had recommended their members vote for the deal.
The agreement ends the longest contract dispute ever at a french-language daily in Canada.
The tentative agreement was reached at 1am, July 2 after a 24 hour, high-level negotiating session.
Some highlights:
- Agreement goes for five years from signing date
- 2.5 per cent per year salary increases
- Classified ad services brought back to Québec City (from Kanata)
- 37.5 hour, four day work week (37.5 hours over five days for classified ad employees)
- One more week of vacation for temporary employees with more than 10 years service
- Introduce a floor for the number of journalists and photographers to maintain local coverage while allowing multimedia
- Changes to press room work rules in exchange for investment in new equipment
- Early retirement program: four weeks salary per year of service up to 18 months
- Possibility of jobs at Vidéotron for affected office employees
About 280 employees of the Québec City tabloid have been on strike or locked out since April 22, 2007, the first work stoppage to hit the paper since it started in 1967.
