'Journal de Montreal' Asks for Arbitration In Tense Strike

By: Mark Fitzgerald Management of the daily Le Journal de Montreal invoked mandatory arbitration Tuesday, two days after 115 Teamster pressmen walked off the job -- after, according to the Canadian newspaper, vandalizing press equipment.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the paper said Montreal police are investigating what it called "acts of sabotage perpetrated in the pressroom" by the strikers.

"We had planned to print the paper at 4545 Frontenac St. with the help of managers in the event of a strike, but we were unable to do so because of the extent of the damage to the printing equipment," Le Journal President and Publisher Lyne Robitaille said in a statement. "We therefore turned to companies that had the equipment and available press time to meet our needs."

Delivery of the Wednesday paper did not begin until 6 a.m., the newspaper said.

Teamster leaders denied the allegations of sabotage, and accused the newspaper of making contract demands that are "health and safety risks" for the union employees.

The union said management wants to lower the number of press operators from 10 to six. It also says management is demanding press operators do work that by contract is now limited to union electricians, and allow the electricians to do some press operator tasks.

"We're willing to make some compromises, but Journal de Montreal management is only interested in imposing its own point of view without even discussing it," Local Union 41M President Michel Cote said in a statement. "The elder Pierre Peladeau used the affectionate term 'my collaborators', when he referred to the press operators. I find it regrettable that today's management appears to consider them as little more than numbers."

Le Journal is owned by the Sun Media division of Quebecor, which Peladeau once ran.

For its part, management said that "opposed views on new realities facing major dailies around the world are at the core of the dispute."

It said pressroom employees work four nights a week, usually for just four or five hours after the beginning of the night shift because they can leave once the paper is off the press.

"They enjoy the best working conditions in the industry in
North America, with an average salary of C$115,000 per year (US$102,927) for a 32-hour week," the newspaper said.

Contract talks broke off June 1. The union said the strike was approved by a 99% vote of the general membership.

The contract calls for mandatory arbitration in the event of a strike or lockout, according to the management, which Tuesday asked the Ministry of Labor to begin the arbitration process.