The Sudbury Star has given its locked out employees something to think about. According to Northern Ontario Newspaper Guild spokesperson Denis St. Pierre, the company is proposing a short-term guarantee of no layoffs in a new contract.
That falls short of what the union is after.
The short-term guarantee was one of several talking points shuffled between the two sides by provincial mediator Bill Lloyd Wednesday.
Lloyd was in Sudbury last week and returned to town to check if there was a willingness to reach an end to the dispute from both sides.
The short term no layoff proposal was to be discussed at a membership meeting at the Steel Hall last night (Thursday).
St. Pierre couldn?t say at press time whether it would be voted on as that would be decided by union members.
No decision had been made by union leaders on whether to recommend acceptance, said St. Pierre.
The union leader said there are several other outstanding issues involved before any resolution can be finalized, including wages and pensions.
Toronto based Osprey Media Group, the owner of Sudbury?s daily newspaper, has offered a four-year deal containing wage increases of 2.5, 2, 2 and 3 per cent.
There have been no face-to-face meetings between the opposing sides during the two-month strike.
About 70 people, represented by the Newspaper Guild of Canada and the Graphic Communications International Union, continue to walk the line.
A small union local involving about half a dozen people voted to go back to work early on in the dispute.
