In response to Magazines Canada’s support for back-to-work legislation for CUPW

As representatives of independent Canadian publications, we were alarmed to see yesterday’s statement from Magazines Canada CEO Mark Jamison applauding Minister of Labour Lisa Raitt’s decision to introduce back-to-work legislation to force locked-out Canada Post employees back to work.

This statement comes after a week of lobbying on the part of Magazines Canada, ostensibly “on behalf of Canada’s magazine sector,” urging the government to “take immediate action, including legislation, to end this labour dispute before it causes irreparable harm to Canadians, their businesses and our economy.”

As editors and publishers in an industry that critically depends on reliable and efficient postal service to fulfill our obligations to readers, we share Magazines Canada’s concern for the impacts of the lockout on the magazine industry as a whole. However, we categorically oppose the introduction of back-to-work legislation, which denies 48,000 postal workers their fundamental right to collectively negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment. This action is an unnecessary and unjust intervention by the Harper government in support of Canada Post management, and a direct attack on postal workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively.

As members of Magazines Canada, we would like to affirm our appreciation for the indispensable service that postal workers provide to magazine readers, writers and creators alike, and express our support for the struggle of postal workers to defend their right to safe, healthy and fair working conditions.

Signed,

Dru Oja Jay, Martin Lukacs, Dawn Paley, Tim McSorley, Moira Peters and Roddy Doucet
Editorial Collective
The Dominion

Valerie Zink and Shayna Stock
Editor/Publishers
Briarpatch Magazine

Cy Gonick
Publisher & Coordinating Editor
Canadian Dimension

Lorraine Endicott
Managing Editor
Our Times

Tom Keefer
Upping the Anti

Jo Snyder
Co-Publisher
Shameless Magazine
(not a Magazines Canada member, but in solidarity with those who are)