Herald workers protest job cuts
Posted Nov 6, 2014 03:25:20 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Dressed in black, members of the Halifax Typographical Union marched on the sidewalk in front of the Chronicle Herald building for 15 minutes Thursday in what the union calls a show of solidarity.
Ingrid Bulmer, president of the union, says the quality of the newspaper is sure to be affected by cuts announced last week.
“I don’t how we could possibly tell the stories that need to be told,” she said. “We’re not going to have the time or the resources.”
Herald management announced on October 31 that 20 union members would lose their jobs in 45 days.
Management has given the union that time to come up with other cost-saving measures, and Bulmer esitmates 10 of those jobs could be saved.
Bulmer isn’t sure management is doing all it can to cut costs, pointing out they’ve hired and promoted people recently.
“It does go against saving costs when you’re promoting and hiring outside the bargaining unit,” she said.
Reporters and photographers at the paper have withheld their bylines since Monday, and Bulmer says she hopes to continue that protest till the 45 days are out.
Bulmer says the public response has been positive, “because people do want the local news and I think that they realize that the smaller the newsroom, the less news they’re going to get that they want to hear.”
