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Local Chinese paper now a union shop
MEDIA
Journalists at Toronto’s Chinese-language daily Sing Tao have voted to unionize.
Citing low wages, long hours and no overtime as major issues — editorial staff earn a little more than $500 a week — 30 of 35 editors, reporters, photographers, translators, graphic artists and proofreaders voted to join the Southern Ontario Newspaper Guild (SONG) last week.
SONG organizer Howard Law says the unionizing effort began about a year and a half ago, not long after the Toronto Star, which owns 70 per cent of the paper, purchased its interest.
An editor at Sing Tao declined to comment. The daily’s managing director is out of the country, and a TorStar spokesperson was unavailable for comment.
