STRIKE ACTION LOOMS IN THUNDER BAY

Come March 16, the 120 full- and part-time CEP members employed by the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal may find themselves doing something none of them want to do: Walk the picket line.

The members of Local 191 are facing that grim prospect as the final round of negotiations with the employer, set for March 14-15, draws nearer.

These two days of mediated talks represent the last efforts to negotiate a collective bargaining contract with the paper's new owner, Horizon Operations (Canada) Ltd.

The company Ð which also owns newspapers in Kelowna, B.C. as well as Medicine Hat and Lethbridge, Alta. Ð purchased The Chronicle-Journal on Feb. 2, 2001. CEP Local 191's existing three-year contract, which was negotiated with long-time owners Thomson Canada Ltd., expired at the end of 2001. The difference in attitude between the two companies' management is like night and day. Thomson used experienced negotiators who were hard-nosed but business-like, and a deal got done. Horizon, on the other hand, has been represented by Todd Vogt, the president and CEO who cut his teeth working at Conrad Black's Hollinger Inc. From the opening moments of the first negotiating session, Horizon's approach has been one of give me, give me, give me.

Citing a worldwide economic downturn and claiming that The Chronicle-Journal has "underperformed," Vogt demanded that all CEP members agree to take one unpaid day off each month -- in effect, a five-per-cent wage cut for 2002.

That proposal was rejected out of hand by the membership, who told their bargaining committee in no uncertain terms that they were not interested in makingconcessions for a company which is still a profitable enterprise.

After three days of back-and-forth discussion in early December, negotiations recessed. Along with making little headway, the bargaining committee was frustrated by issues surrounding the new company pension plan.

The second round in early January did not get off the ground, literally. First, Vogt claimed to have misunderstood when talks were to resume. Then, when he failed to arrive as promised on the second day, he claimed to have been stuck on a plane in Chicago.

Frustrated and not knowing what was going on, the bargaining committee went home.

The next round started Feb. 7 in the presence of a labour ministry conciliator. The committee spent more than five hours on a revised proposal that had little or no improvements on most issues but called for annual wage increases of three per cent. In short order, the company replied with a proposal that maintained the status quo. Economically, Horizon proposed minimal wage increases - after everyone accepted an unpaid day off each month in 2002, that is. "We want to get a contract done," Vogt told staff at a general meeting Jan. 9, "and I give you my word we'll do everything we can."

To date, Horizon hasn't moved on its initial demand for a wage rollback. If a new collective agreement is to be realized and a work stoppage averted, Vogt will have to start living up to the pledge to his employees.