Union announces plans to try to form a union at the National Post newspaper

TORONTO – Workers at Postmedia’s National Post newspaper have announced plans to try to form a union.

CWA Canada says it’s working to organize the employees amid significant challenges in the media business.

Postmedia has made significant cuts across its operations, including the National Post, in recent years as it has worked to slash costs.

The unionization drive follows a controversy over bonuses paid to several top Postmedia executives while the company cut staff.

“We see unionizing as the best way to protect both ourselves and our readers across the country, who suffer every time the newspaper loses a great reporter, photographer, editor or designer to a buyout or a better-paid job with a competitor,” the union’s organizing committee said in a statement.

Postmedia (TSX:PNC.A, TSX:PNC.B) did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The National Post was launched in 1998.

CWA Canada, which represents staff at news organizations including The Canadian Press, says the Post is Canada’s only major non-unionized newsroom.

Postmedia Network Canada Corp., the newspaper’s parent company, reported a profit of $13 million in its most recent quarter, boosted by one-time, non-cash items including a $22.8-million gain related to changes in the company’s employee benefit plans and a decrease in impairment charges. The result compared with a loss of $23.7 million a year earlier.

Revenue dropped to $194.0 million for the quarter ended May 31, down from $218.3 million in the year ago quarter.