Chronicle Herald unionized workers on strike for 100 days

Unionized employees at the Chronicle Herald have been on strike for 100 days and say there doesn't appear to be an end in sight to the labour dispute.

"This is a US style union busting drive," said Claire McIlveen, secretary of the Halifax Typographical Union. "We've offered major concessions to the Herald when talks were on, including a five per cent wage cut which, if you're involved with labour at all, that is huge. That is a huge concession. They didn't even want to talk to us." 

The strike began Jan. 23 and at that time 61 members of the paper's editorial staff walked the picket line. Since then, a few have moved onto other jobs or had to leave for health reasons.

May Day rally

"We've had our contract for 17 years. All of a sudden, the company wants to make 1,200 changes to our contract including doing away with pay equity, the seniority clause or provisions we've had in the past, they want to get rid of people like me, replace us with people who they can pay a half or a third of our salaries."

McIlveen spoke to CBC news at a Halifax May Day rally, an event that honours workers. She says there have been good days and bad days since the strike started. 

"There's a lot of stress involved with being on strike but I would say we're pretty determined to win our contract back. The Herald is treating us pretty poorly we think and we think Nova Scotians are coming around to our point of view."

Since the strike started, the editorial staff have set up their own online news website. McIlveen says she and others are feeling support from locals.

"Even if they're not keen on unions, I don't think Nova Scotians like to see long time dedicated workers kicked to the curb."