Guardian & Journal Pioneer Workers File to Unionize in P.E.I.

Workers at The Guardian and Journal Pioneer newspapers in P.E.I. have filed for union certification

The Halifax Typographical Union (CWA Canada Local 30130) filed today with the P.E.I. Labour Relations Board after an overwhelming majority of workers signed union cards.

The Island News Guild unit of the HTU will include about 40 reporters, editors, videographers, art designers, district managers, and sales and member services staff in Charlottetown and Summerside. The newspapers are part of the Saltwire chain, based in Halifax.

“A union will help us do our jobs better. It will help us retain and train media workers today and tomorrow,” the workers said in a Mission Statement. “To do this, we need yearly cost of living increases, fair wages, adequate staffing, and safe and respectful work environments.”

CWA Canada President Carmel Smyth said unionizing will be good for workers, for the company, and for journalism: “With the challenges facing the newspaper industry, it is more important than ever that media workers have a say in their workplace. The best way to improve quality, morale, and diversity is to give workers a voice and the power to bargain a collective agreement.”

CWA Canada is the country’s only all-media union, representing nearly 6,000 workers, including at the CBC, The Canadian Press, APTN, and newspapers coast to coast.

Island News Guild Mission Statement

We, the P.E.I. staff of The Guardian and Journal Pioneer newspapers, are forming a union.

We work in editorial, production, sales, finance, lift teams, circulation, and customer relations.

We love our jobs. We love finding – and bringing you – the stories that matter.

Both newspapers, now part of the Atlantic Canadian SaltWire network, have a combined 291 years of history in this province. We hope to continue informing our communities, inspiring debate, and amplifying the voices of people who call this place home.

That’s why we need a union. A union will help us do our jobs better. It will help us retain and train media workers today and tomorrow. To do this we need yearly cost of living increases, fair wages, adequate staffing, and safe and respectful work environments. We also need clear job descriptions to ensure fair workloads and to maintain the historic identities of the two newspapers.

The demanding nature of working in the media means that the workplace needs stability beyond just a paycheque. A union gives us an organizational backbone that will allow us to fight together in a way we cannot do alone.

P.E.I. is obviously a special place but it is a place often overlooked, often treated as an afterthought. But like the province itself, both the Guardian and Journal-Pioneer have consistently shown the ability to punch above their weight. 

We respect that SaltWire is doing the hard work of delivering high quality news in three provinces at an incredibly difficult time. We also know that there is an appetite out there for more journalism in P.E.I. – print and online subscriptions are relatively strong compared to other parts of the country.

We also know that big tech platforms like Google and Facebook have shown no interest in supporting local news and helping our communities.

Climate change, housing insecurity, inflation, poverty, crime – all these big, complicated issues play out in P.E.I. Our communities need good information to talk about them with their neighbours, to come up with solutions, and to hold our leaders to account.

As newsworkers in this province, we believe a union is the key piece of the puzzle that can help SaltWire fulfil its mission: to provoke thought and action for the betterment of our community.

And at the end of the day, we think a union is the best thing we can do now to serve the people who matter the most in this business: the readers.