The President of Unifor Local 517-G will be asking Windsor City Council for support following the closing of the Windsor Star production plant.
Colin Brian will be a delegate at the next council meeting to ask city council to stand behind the union in solidarity for the community of Windsor.
The union is asking council to send a letter in protest to Postmedia regarding the loss of the heritage news source, the job losses, as well as asking that all Windsor Star archives be moved to a City of Windsor public outlet, and for more understanding and accountability of Bill C-18.
Bill C-18 enacts the Online News Act which enforces a system to regulate digital platforms in order to enhance fairness in the Canadian digital news market.
Colin Brian says the archive section at the Windsor Star is incredibly vast and full of Windsor history.
"I took my daughter into the plant and I took her through the archive section. I just said this is Windsor's history, and I randomly opened a drawer and the first picture I found was a picture of when they were building the Ambassador Bridge. So, it just goes to show you how vast the amount of Windsor history that is there."
He says the Goodfellows, who print their annual paper for free in collaboration with the Windsor Star, is unsure what to do for next year.
"There's also the issue of the Goodfellows. Goodfellows have been a part of our community for a long time, and they worked hand-in-hand with the Windsor Star on creating a product. We have spoken with the Goodfellows and they don't know in the future where they're going to get their product printed," he adds. "I found out that even last year the Windsor Star Postmedia actually charged Goodfellows for the first time to print that product, which is very sad."
Brian adds that this takes away the media which holds city officials accountable.
"For city council and the mayor, for their own transparencies that they have to also worry about, right? Who is going to hold city council and the mayor accountable? You need media to do this. The police don't look after that, there's no government watchdogs or anything, it's always been the media that has kept our local city officials in any community transparent."
The decision by Postmedia resulted in the loss of 75 jobs including building maintenance, crew leader, electrician, engraver, load dock helper, millwright, press operator and press operator apprentice.
The printing work at the Windsor Star Production Plant is being transferred to a Toronto printer and the papers will then be shipped to the Windsor market. The inserting work is going to a plant in London.
Windsor City Council meets on February 27 at 4 p.m.
-with files from AM800's Aaron Mahoney