HALIFAX – A Nova Scotia judge is expected to decide Thursday whether to approve Postmedia’s $1-million bid to acquire Atlantic Canada’s largest newspaper chain.
The court hearing in Halifax follows intense negotiations between the Toronto-based company and a union (CWA) representing some workers at SaltWire Network Inc. and The Halifax Herald Ltd., the two insolvent media companies behind newspapers and online publications in Nova Scotia, P.E.I. and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Postmedia has said the deal will fall apart unless the media companies wind up their pension plans, and it is demanding unionized editorial staff in Halifax and Cape Breton agree to change their collective agreements in ways that are “satisfactory” to Postmedia.
As well, Postmedia wants unionized staff running the Halifax Chronicle Herald’s presses to give up their successor rights under the Nova Scotia Trade Union Act, which means those positions would no longer be unionized once the deal closes, but only if the union agrees.
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