Employees who worked at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 can expect a payment from the CBC by the end of June from the settlement over the inadequate per diems paid at the Games. Employees will receive $13.50 for every day they were in Athens. The payments will not appear on regular payroll so that they do not appear as taxable income.

An arbitrator ruled last year that the CBC did not have the right to arbitrarily lower allowance rates, as it did in Athens. The arbitrator said that CBC must follow its own policy but did not impose a cash award for affected employees, urging the parties to come up with a fair sum or return for further hearings.

The CBC policy says the Corporation must pay meal rates no lower than those paid by the federal Treasury Board, which divides daily expense allowances into components for each meal and for incidentals. However, the CBC policy also says the Corporation may deduct from the daily allowance for any meals it provides to employees.

The CBC was therefore arguing that it should not have to pay the full Treasury Board allowance, since the Corporation provided meals to employees in Athens. This argument would have tied the two parties up in lengthy arbitration hearings and could
easily have resulted in many employees receiving less than the settlement or nothing, depending on whether the arbitrator agreed on a case-by-case basis that meals were provided to employees.

After consulting with our legal counsel, the Guild negotiated a cash settlement with CBC to get reasonable compensation for our members.

Although the Guild was the only CBC union to grieve this matter, the settlement will also be applied to other CBC employees who worked in Athens, including members of the Quebec-based unions, APS and management.

For more information, contact the Guild (info@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333 or 1-800-465-4149.