Union representing closed Vertis plant workers and Quad/Graphics appear in Ontario court

Yesterday (Thursday) lawyers representing protesting ex-workers of the closed Vertis printing plant in Fort Erie, Ontario (who are members of CEP, the Communications, Energy and Paperworks Union of Canada) and Quad/Graphics appeared in the Superior Court in St. Catharines, Ontario, to resolve issues arising from the workers’ continual picket line outside the closed plant.

The workers are protesting their treatment in January when their jobs were terminated without severance pay.  Quad/Graphics, who owns such assets inside the closed plant as equipment, paper, and ink, and is in the process of having these assets relocated, had filed a motion for an injunction, claiming the workers have no right to form a "blockade" preventing trucks going in and out of the plant, since their dispute is with Vertis not Quad/Graphics. 

But since the U.S. parent company of Vertis filed for U.S. bankruptcy protection last year and Vertis has told the ex-workers they have no money, the ex-workers are afraid these assets are their only potential source of recompense.  They don't want to see them removed until they are paid what they claim is legally owed to them, an amount estimated at around $2.7 million.

Justice Robert Nightingale postponed the hearing until Monday 11 March 2013 to give the union time to prepare its case. 

Meanwhile, lawyers for the two sides have agreed to try to come up with a mutually acceptable “picket protocol” that will include rules for how long the the protesters can stop a vehicle.
http://www.printaction.com/News/20130317-vertis-quad.html

http://www.niagarafallsreview.ca/2013/03/07/former-vertis-workers-quadgraphics-head-to-court

http://www.forterietimes.ca/2013/03/07/former-vertis-workers-quadgraphics-head-to-court
http://www.bulletnewsniagara.ca/2013/03/07/labour-company-takes-picketing-vertis-employees-to-court-seeking-to-end-plant-gate-blockade/
http://www.wellandtribune.ca/2013/03/07/former-vertis-workers-quadgraphics-head-to-court

More background on this story is available at:

http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/02/may-closure-of-vertis-plant-in-medina.html

http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/01/mpp-kim-craitor-champions-ex-employees.html

http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/01/sudden-closure-of-canadas-only-vertis.html

Updates are available at:
http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/03/ex-vertis-workers-in-fort-erie-post.html

http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/03/vertis-set-to-close-dallas-plant-on.html
http://vicg8.blogspot.ca/2013/03/vertis-communications-files-for.html

Tour of Steam Whistle Brewing in Toronto offers packaging and branding insights

About a year ago I wrote a cover story for PrintAction detailing how Steam Whistle Brewing and other craft breweries are revolutionizing beer branding, packaging, and consumption in Canada.  https://www.box.com/shared/itl5i0n4k46v2crcz8ob

Since then I have watched half a dozen Guinness-loving beer connoisseurs from Belfast, who have visited me socially at various times, marvel over the product quality and packaging innovations created by our local microbreweries—not to mention the fact that their products are uniquely Canadian (whereas all of Canada’s major mainstream breweries are owned by foreign interests.)

Now I see that PAC – The Packaging Association has organized a group tour on Wednesday, April 10, 2013, to give packaging professionals a glimpse of Steam Whistle Brewing’s brand new bottle-washing, filling and packaging line. 

I’m sure readers will find a visit to the brewery in downtown Toronto as enlightening as I did, either as part of PAC’s tour or the tours the brewery regularly runs for the public.

http://www.steamwhistle.ca/

http://www.steamwhistle.ca/tour/tourInfo.php

http://www.pac.ca/index.php/ePromos/pac0378_steam_whistle_tour_ep

$10-million Donnelley donation to Florida museum includes 55 vintage Model A Fords

Last week the Elliott Museum of Stuart, Martin County, Florida, announced it had received a $10-million charitable donation from the Elliott R. Donnelley family--the largest single gift in the museum’s 53-year history.

Yesterday the museum also held its grand opening for the new 48,000-square-foot, environmentally friendly facility it will occupy following $20 million worth of reconstruction.  The Donnelley gift comprises about $8 million towards the reconstruction campaign, $1.2 million towards operational support, and 55 vintage Ford Model A vehicles valued at $800,000 from Elliott Donnelley's personal collection.  (A random sample of a Model A Ford is shown above.)  The classic automobiles donated by Mr. Donnelley will be housed in the museum's "Wheels of Change" exhibition of antique cars.

The Palm Beach Post reports that Elliott Donnelley’s enthusiasm for the Model A derived from the fact that he learned to drive in one.  He started collecting Model As in 1968, and what makes his collection remarkable is that he added commercial vehicles, including a Model A hearse, a Model A dump truck, and a 1931 Model A ambulance that was converted into a camper.

Mr. Donnelley, now 75, is the great-grandson of Richard Robert Donnelley, the founder of R.R. Donnelley and Sons Company of Chicago, the largest commercial printing company in North America, with annual sales of over $5 billion and 40 manufacturing facilities around the world.  He is also head of the non-profit organization Model A's Inc. and founder of the Lantana Boat Yard, both in Palm Beach County, Florida.

http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2013/feb/27/martin-countys-elliott-museum-announces-10/?partner=RSS
http://www.elliottmuseum.org/
http://martincountytimes.com/elliott-museum-announces-10-million-donation-from-elliott-r-donnelley-family
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/entertainment/arts-theater/stuarts-refurbished-museum-is-revved-up-and-ready-/nWb9M/
http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2013/feb/25/elliott-museum-offering-media-sneak-peek-of-new/?partner=RSS

Reader’s Digest Chapter 11 shows $3.6M debt to Quad/Graphics

This week Reader's Digest’s parent company RDA Holding Co. filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than four years. By this measure the company plans to cut its $465 million, keep restructuring, and emerge from Chapter 11 within six months.  It publishes 75 publications around the world, including 49 editions of Reader’s Digest. 

RDA’s February-17^th bankruptcy petition lists Quad/Graphics Inc. as one of its largest creditors, saying it owes Quad $3.6 million for a trade claim.

In related news, Time Warner Inc. is in talks to divest most of its Time Inc. magazine group in a deal with Meredith Corp., publisher of titles including Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle, whose readers are mainly women.  In the proposal being discussed, Time Warner would retain its flagship newsweekly Time, along with Sports Illustrated and Fortune, but would transfer most of its other titles, including People, InStyle, and Real Simple.

Given these recent scenarios, magazines printers might be well advised to review their terms of credit with magazine publishers undergoing transition.

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2013/02/19/readers-digest-chapter-11-shows-36m.htmlana=RSS&s=article_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vertical_19+%28Marketing+Industry+News%29
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323495104578311271449630846.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/readers-digest-shores-up-canadian-operation/article8830217/

http://www.printaction.com/News/20130219-readers-digest-bankruptcy.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324616604578302400900039118.html

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/time-warner-in-talks-to-divest-most-magazines-to-meredith-20130213-01405

2 Canadian companies win World Label Awards for wine labels

Two Canadian label printers are among the winners of the 2012 World Label Awards competition, which was judged by an international jury during Labelexpo in Chicago in September 2012.  Winners were announced on Friday by the L9, an informal group of the world’s leading label-industry trade associations, established at Labelexpo Asia in 2009 to unite and serve as a resource to label communities around the world.  

Their awards competition is divided into 22 classes covering all the main printing processes and label markets.  Entrants must first win a prize in the awards competition of their own local label association—in Canada’s case TLMI (Tag and Label Manufacturers Institute, Inc.), a trade organization for converters and suppliers in the North American tags and pressure sensitive labels industry.

Both Canadian winners were recognized in Wine/Spirits categories:  ASL Print FX (Vaughan, Ontario) for its flexo label for Rennie Estate Winery 2009 Gaia, and TAPP Label Technologies Inc. (Langley, British Columbia) for its offset label for Cloud Valley 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon.  (Actually, TAPP tied as Joint Winner with Sato Printing Co., Ltd., of Japan.)

These developments seem to reinforce my March-2012 article for PrintAction on world-class marketing innovations in Canada’s wine industry. https://www.box.com/shared/155447311a71831eea34

http://www.labelandnarrowweb.com/contents/view_breaking-news/2013-02-15/l9-announces-world-label-award-winners/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+LNWBreakingNews+%28Label+and+Narrow+Web+Breaking+News%29

http://www.convertingquarterly.com/industry-news/articles/id/5250/2012-world-label-awards-winners-announced.aspx

http://www.worldlabelawardsassociation.com/

http://tlmi.com/

http://www.worldpackagingnews.com/2012/12/world-label-awards-restructured/

http://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+meeting+of+minds%3A+the+L9,+a+global+group+of+industry+associations,...-a0293417415

http://life.nationalpost.com/2012/04/04/new-ontario-wineries-2012/

http://www.aslprintfx.com/

http://tapptech.com/contact/

Canadian Celiac Association develops standards, safety seal, and video to protect Canada's 7 million consumers of gluten-free products

With funding support from the federal government, the Canadian Celiac Association has spent several years to develop a voluntary Gluten-Free Certification Program (GFCP), comprised of safety standards and a trademarked seal of approval (shown at left) to appear on products meeting those standards.  The program will interest food, drug, and pharmaceutical manufacturers of gluten-free products and their packaging, as well as the 7-million-strong-and-growing number of Canadian consumers who buy gluten-free products. 

The informative promotional video for the GFCP includes a guest appearance by professional hockey player Tom Kostopoulos, spokesperson for both the GFCP and the association.  http://www.glutenfreecertification.ca/the-gluten-free-certification-program-the-right-to-safe-food/

I am indebted to my LinkedIn contact Paul D. Valder, President of Allergen Control Group Inc. (Milton, ON), for bringing this recent development to my attention.

http://www.glutenfreecertification.ca/

http://www.celiac.ca/index.php/about-the-cca/certification/

http://strategyonline.ca/2012/11/19/brands-go-gluten-free/

http://www.foxinthekitchenblog.com/blogpost/2013/01/review-gluten-free-expo-vancouver-2013/

A Printer’s Valentine: Printer Benjamin Franklin immortalized his wife in a song but they lived apart for their last 10 years of marriage

Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790, pictured at left on an American $100 bill) worked as a printer from the age of 12 until he retired from business in 1748.  Even after he achieved fame for his numerous other stellar accomplishments, he continued to sign his letters “B. Franklin, Printer”.

In Benjamin’s Autobiography he describes his early courtship of an anonymous girl: 
“The old folks encouraged me by continual invitations to supper, and by leaving us together.”  When Benjamin popped the question, he told the girl’s parents that he expected as a dowry “as much money with their daughter as would pay off my remaining debt for the printing-house.”  When the parents replied that they did not have that much money, he suggested “they might mortgage their house in the loan office.”  In the end, when the parents finally declined Benjamin’s proposal, he “declared absolutely my resolution to have nothing more to do with that family.”

In 1724, at age 17, Benjamin again attempted matrimony by proposing to his then 15-year-old future partner, Deborah Read, while he was lodging at her home in Philadelphia.  Her mother prohibited the marriage because of Benjamin’s financial instability and the fact that he was planning a trip to England. By the time Benjamin returned from England in 1726, Deborah had married someone else, a potter named John Rogers, who soon afterwards stole Deborah’s dowry and deserted her.

Benjamin’s Autobiography records: 
" Our mutual affection was revived, but there were now great objections to our union. The match was indeed looked upon as invalid, a preceding wife being said to be living in England; but this could not easily be proved, because of the distance; and tho' there was a report of his death, it was not certain. Then, tho' it should be true, he had left many debts, which his successor might be called upon to pay. We ventured, however, over all these difficulties, and I took her to wife September 1, 1730. None of the inconveniences happened that we had apprehended; she proved a good and faithful helpmate, assisted me much by attending the shop; we throve together, and have ever mutually endeavored to make each other happy. Thus I corrected that great erratum as well as I could."

Without proof of Rogers’s death, Deborah was not free to remarry formally, so her marriage to Benjamin was common-law.  Besides raising William, Franklin’s illegitimate son from a previous liaison, they had two children together, a son, Francis (born 1732, who died four years later), and a daughter, Sally (born 1743, who lived to marry, bear eight children of her own, and care for her father in his old age.)

Between 1757 and 1775 Benjamin spent most of his time working in London as the agent of the Pennsylvania Assembly, while Deborah stayed in America because of her fear of ocean travel. Although the two exchanged letters and gifts, Deborah and Benjamin reportedly did not see each other whatsoever during the last 10 years of their 44-year marriage.  Deborah died in 1774.

The following are just a few of the verses of “My Plain Country Joan”, a song Benjamin wrote in tribute to her.  (In fact, it wasn’t actually a Valentine but an anniversary gift.)

Of their Chloes and Phyllises poets may prate,

I sing my plain country Joan,

These twelve years my wife, still the joy of my life,

Blest day that I made her my own.

Not a word of her face, of her shape, or her air,

Or of flames, or of darts, you shall hear;

I beauty admire, but virtue I prize,

That fades not in seventy year.

Am I loaded with care, she takes off a large share,

That the burden ne’er makes me to reel;

Does good fortune arrive, the joy of my wife

Quite doubles the pleasure I feel.

She defends my good name, even when I’m to blame,

Firm friend as to man e’er were given;

Her compassionate breast feels for all the distressed,

Which draws down more blessings from heaven.

http://www.biography.com/people/benjamin-franklin-9301234

http://www.ushistory.org/franklin/info/index.htm

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1990-05-06/features/9002070774_1_poor-richard-lucy-mercer-franklin-delano-roosevelt

http://www.historycarper.com/1741/04/01/509/