CanCult.ca

The Star could be on strike as early as Saturday. The issues are the usual ones facing media organizations these days:

In a memo to staff last Friday, Toronto Star publisher Jagoda Pike said the Star had lost $32-million in advertising revenue by the end of 2006, compared with 2004 when the last collective agreement was signed. During that time, the overall economy was growing, she noted, adding there are now growing concerns about the possibility of a recession in the U.S. and Ontario.

“The Star’s challenges are no different than those being experienced by other major dailies across North America,” the publisher said. “The fundamental issue is the need to accelerate the transformation of our workplace in the face of the dramatic challenges facing major metropolitan dailies.”

According to union documents, Star management is seeking to eliminate job titles and create journalists who do everything from writing stories to shooting video and producing graphics.

“The company would diminish specialists and promote generalists – while paying less,” the union says.

(Image from guuleed’s Flickr stream.)