Workers at Francophone newspaper the Journal de Montreal will mark a full year of being locked out Sunday.
The 250 members of the reporting and office staff, who are unionized by the Syndicat des travailleurs de l'information du Journal de Montréal, were locked out Jan. 24, 2009 after a contract dispute over salary, benefits and media convergence.
Owned by Quebecor, one of Canada's largest media companies, the newspaper says it wants to increase profitability by merging online and multimedia content throughout the media conglomerate's network of publications like the Sun Media Corp., the TVA Group -- Quebec's largest French-language television network -- and the Canoe web portal.
But union president Raynald Leblanc said the convergence threatens both the profession of journalism and jobs at the newspaper.
Pierre Karl Peladeau, Quebecor's president and CEO, published an open letter last week in the Journal de Quebec slamming the trade union movement in Quebec, saying it allows for too many unjustified benefits and is hindering Quebec's economic development.
Union leaders have called the letter counterproductive and confrontational in the context of the Journal de Montreal dispute.
