Saturday 27 June 2009

Sun venting

Nicole Marr is a former eight-year Sun Media vet who saw her job in Alberta vanish through cutbacks while on maternity leave.

Now on the outside looking in, she is concerned about the path taken by Sun Media and is in "mourning" for Quebecor.

She writes:

"I'm glad I found the TSF blog, but I tell you, each day I read it my heart breaks a little more.

"I was at the Edmonton Sun, Spruce Grove Examiner/Stony Plain Reporter, Calgary Sun, Cochrane Times, and Airdrie Echo over a period of eight years. I may not have been around for everything, and Quebecor may not have been the greatest company to work for, but I was happy working there (mostly it was usually people I had a problem with, not the company.

"I am on maternity leave currently, but had left Cochrane/Airdrie four months prior because I didn't want to be eight months pregnant and on the winter highways between Calgary and Airdrie. Therefore I have no job to go back to.

"Then again, shortly after I left, they consolidated the production departments to the Sun, so I'd have no job in Airdrie anyway. I was hoping these were all temporary measures in a tough economy. But after reading TSF, it sounds like the problems are across the board, across the country.

"I'm mourning for Quebecor. It's like they have a slow-killing cancer. If they keep up with the cuts and the strong-arming across the country, they're going to die off. How can they expect to compete with Black Press, or all of the independents that are springing up?

"They seem to think the ball they started rolling is going to save them, but by losing all of their staff (whether from layoffs or resignations), and losing all their local content, they're losing their readership. Losing your readership is a harder obstacle to overcome than staff-loss ever could be.

"I apologize for the long, rambling email. I needed to vent re: Quebecor, and TSF is a perfectly understanding place.

"Nicole Marr

"(ps, if you hear of anyone wanting to start an independent in the Calgary area, let me know. I can run a production department!.)"

Thank you for your e-mail Nicole. All the best in motherhood and future employment.

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