Remembering Victoria Guild activist Roger Stonebanks

Roger Stonebanks, a long-standing and deeply respected activist with the Victoria-Vancouver Island Newspaper Guild (CWA Canada Local 30223), has died.

Roger, who passed on Jan. 15, was co-chairperson of the Joint Council of Newspaper Unions at the Victoria Times Colonist for many years. In that role, he led a cohesive group to achieve common language and monetary gains for members of the unions at the newspaper.   

Roger retired in 2000 but remained engaged and followed the issues at the Times Colonist until the summer of 2025.

Roger was instrumental in the Guild securing the sacred jurisdiction / contracting out language (Article 1, Section 4) in the Sept. 6, 2001 Nicholas Glass Arbitration award. 

Roger gave undisputed evidence of the history of the language back to the six-month strike of 1974. He explained that the intent of the language was an internal protection that current and future Guild work was to be performed by Guild members only, and an external protection to prevent current and future Guild work from leaving the building to be performed by non-Guild members. 

Shortly after the arbitration win, the company attempted to gut the jurisdiction language, resulting in a nine-week strike in 2002 by all the members of the Joint Council of Newspaper Unions. The unions stood firm and the company eventually backed down, ensuring Guild members job security.

Guild members past and current owe Roger an incredible debt of gratitude for his unwavering dedication to union activism.