Metroland newspapers in the Ottawa area are running ads looking for freelancers to fill their pages, as staff reporters at the Kanata Kourier-Standard, Ottawa This Week and other Metroland papers enter their first negotiations to establish a union. Staff are reportedly concerned that Metroland may be looking for freelancers to serve as defacto replacement workers in the event of a strike.
The Canadian Freelance Union, a sister CEP local to the Southern Ontarion Newsmedia Guild that represents staffers, is asking freelancers not to take on additional work that would otherwise be done by regular employees. At Metroland’s meagre freelance rates, it shouldn’t be hard to turn down the work. Regular freelance columnists and correspondents are not being asked to decline existing assignments.
