Unifor 87-M members vote to merge 12 Metroland Media Collective agreements

TORONTO, June 6, 2023 /CNW/ - In a historic vote last week, 220 Metroland Media Newspaper union members overwhelmingly voted YES to move forward and start the consolidation of their newspaper collective agreements.

The process to achieve the Memorandum of Agreement began in early February when Torstar officials approached the Union to help ease their financial situation by converting all the organized Metroland units into a single group.

Both the union and the employer have worked diligently on this deal that takes 12 smaller collective agreements and moves them into one main agreement. This will see members from as far east as Ottawa, south as Niagara, west as Hamilton, and north as Kawartha to come together, as one large group.

"We were able to guarantee our members no layoffs for the balance of this year, which in today's media landscape is unheard of," said Carleen Finch, President of Unifor Local 87-M. "This historical move will give us the chance to unite members across Ontario and give them the ability to have one large collective voice."

Now, the real work begins as unit chairs meet over the next few weeks to discuss and formulate a main agreement.

"Newspapers play a vital role in keeping Canadian society informed, healthy and professional. Quality journalism is critical in supporting our democracy," Finch said. "If we continue to lose Canadian newspapers, TV, and radio news programs, then our communities, economy and our democracy are threatened.

"Local news is in crisis and that impacts all Canadians. The federal government has taken a first step to support local news through Bill C 18, but more is necessary."

Unifor Local 87-M represents 220 members at Metroland Media and 1,500 media workers across Ontario, including the Toronto Star, Globe and Mail and Toronto Sun.

Unifor is Canada's largest private sector union with more than 315,000 members in all sectors of the economy, including 12,000 in media across the country.

For more information, contact:

Carleen Finch
President, Local 87-M 
416-461-2461 x 1
[email protected]

SOURCE Unifor Local 87-M