Links between freelancing and gender inequality highlighted by Chronicle Herald labour dispute
By Errol Salamon
This post is the first in a series called “E-Lancer Writes.” The series will explore the working conditions, rights, and collective organizing strategies of freelance journalists, interns, and other low-wage and temporary digital media workers.
The Halifax Chronicle Herald made headlines last week for contacting freelance journalists to replace the newspaper’s employees during a possible lockout or strike, which could start as early as January 23.
According to a November 2015 email from Herald management shared with CBC News by one of the freelancers, the paper is offering freelancers “full-time contracts of up to four months” in the event of a work stoppage. These scab freelancers would typically work from home, and the paper would publish their work without bylines to protect their anonymity.
These offers were made right before the company walked away from the conciliation process in late December. In addition to monetary issues such as massive cuts to wages and pensions and plans to slash 30 percent of the paper’s 61 newsroom positions, the Herald wants to remove the gender parity clause in its collective agreement. This clause recognizes “equal pay for equal work for male and female employees,” says the Halifax Typographical Union, the CWA Canada local that represents the paper’s employees.
There’s a link between the Herald’s desire to remove gender parity and their plan to temporarily hire freelancers to reduce organizational spending. Freelance writing, after all, has overwhelmingly been underpaid women’s work.
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Freelancers, union leaders urge support for Chronicle Herald staff during labour dispute
by Rachel Sanders
Sandra Phinney knows exactly how difficult it is to negotiate with the owners of the Halifax Chronicle Herald. The Yarmouth-based freelance writer was offered a harsh contract by the company several years ago.
“It was all-rights-grabbing. Including moral rights. And we would be liable if a reader had sued the paper. The onus was entirely on the freelancers. It was just one of those worst-case scenarios in terms of contracts,” Phinney told Story Board during a phone interview this week.
She and a group of other freelancers, including columnists such as Ralph Surette, Silver Donald Cameron and Harry Bruce, tried to schedule a meeting with the company to discuss the contract.
“We thought that we would be able to just talk with the owners. But that wasn’t possible because they simply refused to meet with us,” she says.
Phinney sees striking similarities between that experience and the current labour dispute between the paper’s newsroom staff and its owners.
“We were a smaller group and we were freelancers, but I sense that the same thing has happened with staff. That there’s no desire to have a conversation. And if you can’t communicate with your employer, nothing happens. You can’t create understanding, you just can’t get anywhere,” she says.
Phinney says that she, like many freelancers, stopped writing for the paper over that contract. But about six months ago, Phinney caught wind of a new freelance contract at the Chronicle Herald.
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Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Jan 12-18
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Chronicle Herald’s newsroom union votes to strike [CBC]
- Toronto Star closes Vaughan printing plant, cuts newsroom jobs [Globe and Mail]
- Chronicle Herald staff take labour dispute to Twitter [J-Source]
- Winners of the annual JHM awards announced [J-Source]
- Journalism head cautions recent grads about ‘scab’ work at Halifax paper [As It Happens]
- CMG concerned about increased media concentration in Canada as Corus buys Shaw Media [CMG]
- Postmedia to accelerate and hike cost cuts [J-Source]
- The Chronicle Herald contacts freelancers ahead of possible work stoppage [CBC]
- King’s Student Union, journalism school director, against scab labour at the Herald [Halifax Media Co-op]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- How Investigative Journalists Can Protect Themselves [The Freelancer]
- 10 More Mistakes That (Might) Ruin Your Freelancing Career [The Freelancer]
- Huffington Post Management Voluntarily Recognizes Employee Union [Huffington Post]
- How to preserve your work before the Internet eats it [Poynter]
- Calling all freelancers: 4 expert ways to manage your business this year [Mashable]
- How to prioritize learning in 2016 [Freelancers Union]
- 4 Reasons Your Low Freelance Writing Rates Are a Terrible Idea [The Write Life]
- Al Jazeera America to Shut Down by April [New York Times]
- Choose a main character and 9 other ideas for starting a story [Poynter]
Last week on Story Board:
- The Born Freelancer on Having a Business Mailing Address: It was late one night when a loud hammering on my front door interrupted an enjoyably quiet summer evening…
- Tricks of the Trade: Clever tips for finding stories at conferences: How do you nab great stories at conferences? That’s a question I’ve been toying with a lot lately, because in late December 2015, I had the opportunity to attend The Society For Marine Mammalogy Conference in San Francisco…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
The Born Freelancer on Having a Business Mailing Address
This series of posts by the Born Freelancer shares personal experiences and thoughts on issues relevant to freelancers. Have something to add to the conversation? Your input is welcome in the comments.
It was late one night when a loud hammering on my front door interrupted an enjoyably quiet summer evening. Upon opening my door I was surprised and somewhat annoyed to discover a semi-inebriated former employer in need of a shoulder to cry upon about his unhappy domestic situation.
Why me?
He’d remembered “how well” we’d got along. This despite terminating my freelancing services. However, he had kept my business card. It had my home (office) address on it – and, lucky me, he’d been in the neighborhood.
Ah, the joys of being a freelancer. It can be hard to close the door (figuratively or literally) on a possible employer – even an ex-employer – and didn’t this one know it.
Now this scenario did not involve any danger to me nor serious consequences but it might have. What if it had been a former employer with a vindictive agenda? Or an unhappy story subject with an imagined grudge?
Working from my home office it had never occurred to me not to put it on my letterhead, business cards and promotional material. Now for the first time I felt vulnerable. I resolved in future to make my physical location less readily available.
Tricks of the trade: clever tips for finding stories at conferences
by Lesley Evans Ogden
How do you nab great stories at conferences? That’s a question I’ve been toying with a lot lately, because in late December 2015, I had the opportunity to attend The Society For Marine Mammalogy Conference in San Francisco. There, I was one of 14 COMPASS Journalist Fellows scouring the scene for stories.
This was a large conference, with over 2200 scientist attendees. Yet just down the road was the American Geophysical Union, a meeting almost ten times the size. The sheer numbers of experts, all with potential stories to tell, got me thinking about how to “do” conferences without suffering from information overload and a constant case of FOMO (fear of missing out).
Whether the conferences you attend are about science, food, travel, culture, or anything else, where, exactly, do good story opportunities come from?
To answer that question, I asked fellow journalists to tell me what they do before, during, and after a conference. Below is a non-random sample of their wisdom.
Some are short tips. Others are detailed explanations. I’ve organized them from shortest to longest.
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Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Jan 7-11
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Stop writing for the Halifax Herald [Halifax Media Co-op]
- To my former bosses at the Chronicle Herald [The Coast]
- The 2016 Digital Publishing Awards are now open for submissions [Digital Publishing Awards]
- J-Source seeks its next editor-in-chief [J-Source]
- Atlantic Journalism Awards entry deadline looms [Canadian Magazines]
- The epic guide to changing everything in 2016: 6 ways to actually follow through on your resolutions [Rags to Reasonable]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- How Much of Your Personality Should You Reveal to Your Editor? [The Freelancer]
- 3 tips to cleaning up a freelance mess [Freelancers Union]
- Pulitzer Prizes turn 100 this year, will celebrate with 4 big events [Poynter]
- Nine essential tips for the (successfully) self-employed [The Guardian]
- 5 Writing Challenges That Will Help You Dominate 2016 [The Freelancer]
- How to prioritize learning in 2016 [Freelancers Union]
Last week on Story Board:
- A message to freelancers from the Halifax Typographical Union: CMG Freelance received the following letter from the Halifax Typographical Union this week…
- Entries open for the 2nd annual SABEW Canada Best in Business Awards: Freelance business writers, entries are now open for SABEW Canada’s 2nd annual Best in Business awards competition…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
A message to freelancers from the Halifax Typographical Union
CMG Freelance received the following letter from the Halifax Typographical Union this week:
January 7, 2015
Dear freelance writer/columnist/op-ed contributor,
Members of Halifax Typographical Union who work to produce The Chronicle Herald, TheChronicleHerald.ca and the Business Insider recently began bargaining with the Halifax Herald Ltd.
This is not the first time we reporters, editors, photographers and support staff have been to the table. Since our first contract in 1999, we’ve successfully negotiated agreements without a work stoppage.
But after two rounds of layoffs (most recently in 2014) and agreeing to earlier concessions that would allow the firm to flourish and grow, this time is different.
The company wants to turn back the clock and take away protections we fought to put into place 16 years ago. The company’s ownership and management not only want to gut our benefits and cut our pay by 17%, but also say they plan to lay off 30% of the newsroom, despite any and all concessions we make.
At the same time, the Herald continues to grow its advertorial division at the expense of journalism. Agreeing to its plans would, we believe, spell the end for Canada’s last independently owned paper, reducing it to little more than a cheaply produced vehicle for sponsored content.
After a mere 3.5 days, the company broke off talks Nov. 13 and applied for conciliation. Two days of meetings assisted by a Labour Department rep ended Dec. 18 when the employer again left the table.
The conciliator is expected to file his report in early January, starting a 14-day countdown to a legal strike or lockout. There is a strong likelihood that we could be off the job before the end of January.
If that is the case, we ask that you avoid getting involved in the labour dispute. If you are a freelance writer/columnist/op-ed contributor, make it known that you will not file material or take new assignments until we are back at work with a contract in hand.
We appreciate that in asking this, we are asking you to give up part of your livelihood. But we hope that you believe, as we do, that local news matter. And that local jobs matter, too.
If you would like more details on negotiations, please don’t hesitate to contact either of the undersigned.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Bulmer
Ingrid Bulmer, President email/mobile: bulmeringrid@hotmail.com / 902-210-3465
Frank Campbell, Vice President email: frank.campbell@ns.sympatico.ca
Halifax Typographical Union
Local 30130, CWA/SCA Canada
Entries open for the 2nd annual SABEW Canada Best in Business Awards
Freelance business writers, entries are now open for SABEW Canada’s 2nd annual Best in Business awards competition. There are 11 different award categories and entries are open to SABEW Canada members in good standing.
The entry deadline is February 16, 2016. Winners will receive their awards at a SABEW Canada event in Toronto on April 20th.
For more information or to enter your work for an award, head over to this page on SABEW Canada’s website.
Off The Wire: News for the Canadian media freelancer Dec 31-Jan 6
Once a week, we gather stories about the media business, journalism, writing, publishing, and freelancing—with a Canadian focus—and share them in Off the Wire. Who needs a water cooler?
From Canada:
- Fair contracts for authors [TWUC]
- SABEW’s Best in Business Canada competition [SABEW]
- That was the year that was: a look back at 2015 in Canadian magazines [Canadian Magazines]
- Montreal-based La Presse ends 131 years of daily printed news [Globe and Mail]
From The U.S. and beyond:
- The New Age of Freelancing [Huffington Post]
- HBO Lands ‘Jim’ Documentary About Freelance Journalist Murdered by ISIS [The Wrap]
- VICE reporter Mohammed Rasool released on bail [Poynter]
- How to Write: A Year in Advice from “By Heart” [The Atlantic]
- Technology trends journalists should watch in 2016 [Journalism.co.uk]
- ‘Paper routes for a night’: Boston Globe reporters deliver Sunday’s edition [CNN]
Last week on Story Board:
- Visual and Interactive Storytelling webinar for members: Interested in interactive storytelling? CMG Freelance and CWA Associate Members are invited to a webinar with CBC interactive developers Alisa Mamak and Michael Leschart on Wednesday, January 13th from 4:30 to 5:30 PM ET…
Spot a story you think we should include in next week’s Off the Wire? Email the link to editor@thestoryboard.ca or tweet us at @storyboard_ca.
Visual and Interactive Storytelling for Journalists webinar for members
Interested in interactive storytelling? CMG Freelance and CWA Associate Members are invited to a webinar with CBC interactive developers Alisa Mamak and Michael Leschart on Wednesday, January 13th from 4:30 to 5:30 PM ET.
Mamak and Leschart will cover multimedia, data visualization, infographics, social and other online tools that you can use to enhance your stories. The webinar will give you a better understanding of the tools available for interactive storytelling and the ways you can use them to create dynamic and captivating stories online.
This webinar is free for both CWA Associate Members and members of CMG Freelance. If you’re already a member, you can register for the event on this Eventbrite page. You’ll need your membership number… if you’re a new CMG Freelance member and haven’t yet received your membership card, you can contact freelance@cmg.ca to get your number.
If you’re interested in the webinar but can’t participate live, be sure to register anyway — the webinar will be recorded and you’ll be sent a link to play it back later.
CWA Associate Membership is free for students, volunteers and emerging media workers. You can sign up for membership right here.
For information about the price and benefits of CMG Freelance membership check out the CMG Freelance website.
