Union stages walkout and byline strike over Chronicle Herald layoffs

Dressed in black, the members protested for 15 minutes to show their solidarity with their laid off colleagues and have also held a byline strike since Monday Last week, the Halifax newspaper’s management announced that 20 union members—including seven reporters, five page editors, two photographers, two columnists, one editorial writer, one bureau chief, one librarian and one graphic artist—would be laid off on Dec. 15. The union said the week before the layoff notices went out, six union members accepted early retirement packages and one editor’s job was eliminated. All of these changes will reduce the unionized newsroom staff from 83 to 56, the union said. “Job losses will result in significant holes in the local news our members are proud to deliver every day,” local president Ingrid Bulmer said in a press release. “If there are fewer storytellers, then fewer Nova Scotia stories will be told.”