Some progress for Toronto Star freelancers

At a meeting last week with a coalition of freelancers, Toronto Star management confirmed that it has removed a clause from the contract for contributors to the Grid. The clause was intended to shield the publication from libel, placing more responsibility on the freelancer. The coalition, including members of the Canadian Media Guild, the Canadian Writers Group and the Professional Writers Association of Canada, had raised concerns about the libel clause at previous meetings.

“Given that the most senior editors at The Grid, Star Content Studios, and the Toronto Star, including editor-in-chief Michael Cooke, all attended Tuesday’s meeting, it was clear that resolving issues related to their freelance agreement is a priority,” says Derek Finkle.

The coalition also raised other concerns about the blanket contract the company has been imposing on freelancers before giving them any assignments. Among the issues the group discussed were:

The company has committed that it will come back to the freelance group between the middle and end of September with proposals to resolve some of the key concerns.

“One of our main messages has been that there is another, perhaps more productive, way of doing business than just imposing contracts unilaterally on freelancers,” says Arnold Amber, a member of the CMG’s freelance branch.

“Discussing the issues in detail with the Toronto Star team has raised my optimism for a stronger and healthier relationship between their publications and those of us who produce content for a living,” says Suzanne Bowness, a member of PWAC’s Toronto executive who attended the meeting with Star management.

The freelance coalition was formed last year to address concerns about the Star’s freelance contract. For more information, get in touch with Jean Broughton at jean@cmg.ca.

Posted on September 4, 2012 at 8:30 am by editor · · Tagged with: , , ,

2 Responses

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  1. Written by guylaine
    on March 3, 2013 at 4:08 pm
    Reply · Permalink

    Any update on this?

    • Written by editor
      on March 3, 2013 at 7:10 pm
      Reply · Permalink

      Thanks for your comment, no update yet. If you haven’t yet signed the letter to the Star you can email Jean Broughton (jean@cmg.ca) to do so and to find out how many people have signed so far. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the situation develops.

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