The management of The Press and editorial employees officially signed a new collective agreement on Monday which will run until December 2027, ending more than a year of negotiations. The document notably provides for salary increases of up to 10.5% upon its entry into force.
According to the new collective agreement, employees of the daily editorial staff will receive a salary increase of at least 7% next year, with an additional increase of between 2.5% and 3.5% in certain cases, for a maximum of 10.5%.
Added to this is a lump sum of $3,000 which will be paid to employees to partially compensate for the absence of a retroactive increase.
In the longer term, an increase of 2% per year is also planned in 2025, in 2026 as well as in 2027, the date on which a new collective agreement will have to be negotiated.
The new collective agreement will also govern the allocation of “expertise or notoriety bonuses”, which are given to journalists with the primary aim of staff retention.
A maximum of 20 journalists, or the equivalent of 10% of the newsroom if it exceeds 200 people, will now be able to obtain these special agreements. The Press will now also have to respect a gender parity zone, both in terms of number and amounts. The union denounced during the negotiations that these bonuses were not sufficiently defined, but above all, that they were only given to men.
Good news… in a difficult context
He is the deputy editor and vice-president of information of The PressFrançois Cardinal, and the journalist and president of the Union of Information Workers of The Press, Janie Gosselin, who signed at the end of the afternoon. Other members of the union and management also ratified the agreement.
Both on the union and management side, we were delighted on Monday to move to another stage. The employees, who had been without an employment contract since the end of December 2021 and whose most recent salary increase dates back several years, had taken several pressure tactics in recent months, including a signature strike held last May.
“We are happy, we think it’s a good convention for our members. The strong support that members gave to this agreement, at 98.5%, shows the degree of satisfaction,” mentioned Janie Gosselin on this subject.
“It is very good news that we have managed to reach an agreement to the satisfaction of the various parties, especially in the difficult context in which the media operate today,” argued François Cardinal, in specifying that “the transformation of the business model of The Press required considerable effort and significant sacrifice.”
Mr. Cardinal maintains that “this new model is bearing fruit and ensuring the sustainability of our organization”. “This agreement allows us to recognize the essential contribution of all our journalists and artisans in the pursuit of our mission, while demonstrating healthy prudence in the circumstances,” he noted.