The Thomson Reuters newsroom in Toronto will lose a third of its employees this spring, when the news agency will offshore its online desk. Management informed employees today that 17 permanent and 5 temporary positions will move to Bangalore, India, in March. This will reportedly leave five online desk employees in Toronto.
The Canadian Media Guild, which counts these Toronto-based Thomson Reuters employees as its members, announced the news on its site today. Glenn Gray, staff representative of the CMG, had this to say:
“It’s really disappointing that Thomson Reuters—a profitable Canadian company—is offshoring jobs to pay people a pittance. It’s not in the interest of our members, or of Canadians, for employers to throw people out of work and put downward pressure on our wages.”
Thomson Reuters, though headquartered in New York City and operational in 100 countries, has strong ties to Canada. The Thomson Family’s Woodbridge Company owns 53 per cent of the group, and Thomson Reuters was ranked as Canada’s “leading corporate brand” in the 2010 Interbrand Best Canadian Brands ranking.
