A sign for the National Post outside the newspaper’s offices in Toronto.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Workers in the Toronto newsroom of the National Post have voted in favour of union representation.
The vote comes after Unifor said on Sept. 30 it had filed an application with the Ontario Labour Relations Board to represent staff at the newspaper.
The newspaper is one of the publications under the banner of parent company Postmedia Network Canada Corp., which as of May, had 43 other collective agreements across the company.
Postmedia announced 40 layoffs in May after unions would not approve a temporary salary reduction.
In July, the company reported its quarterly sales were down nearly 30 per cent from the year prior, despite pay cuts, additional layoffs and the closure of 15 of its 125 publications.
Unifor, which already represents nearly 12,000 media workers, did not immediately respond to a request for comment late on Friday.
“This is about their working conditions, their relationship with their employer and compensation. Those are the reasons people seek out a union … they would like someone to bargain on behalf of their interests, collectively,” said Unifor organizer Chris MacDonald when the Sept. 30 application was filed.