Arbitration for producer who was denied seniority rights
The Canadian Media Guild has sent to arbitration a grievance involving the rights of a producer to bump another producer with less seniority who has been assigned as a senior producer.
The CBC has consistently refused to create senior or executive producer jobs as classifications, preferring instead to assign and remove these titles as they see fit. CMG takes the position that producers maintain all of their seniority rights, including the right to bump, regardless of senior or executive producer assignment.
Contract employees can bridge benefits
The Corporation clarified the policy on benefits for employees who work on renewable contracts for less than a year. Employees have the right to bridge their benefits for up to four months between contracts.
The CBC will advise all Human Resources departments across the country that all contract employees must be provided with this information.
This means members working on contracts of eight months or longer can:
? continue to pay for their benefits between contracts
? avoid the 13-week qualification period if benefits are kept up.
No agreement yet on accommodation for health needs
CMG and the Corporation are at loggerheads over the responsibility of the CBC to provide accommodation ? by adapting their duties, workspace or location – for employees who, for health reasons, cannot perform their regular job at their assigned location.
CMG maintains that an accommodation must be made across the Corporation as a whole, not just within the employee’s usual location. At this time, CMG and the Corporation are continuing discussions on an important accommodation case.
Recently, CMG was successful in having an employee moved from a remote location to a larger location where appropriate health care was available.
Two employees granted training premiums
CMG has settled, without prejudice, the case of two employees who had provided practical, on-the-job training but were denied the training premium of $25 per day. CMG maintains that practical training on the job merits the training premium as laid out in the collective agreement
The National Grievance Committee is trying to come to agreement on defining situations when the training premium must be paid.
News integration issues continue
The CMG is continuing to monitor issues related to the integration of news gathering and dissemination between radio, TV and the internet. Concerns include workload, work quality, bumping rights during layoffs and replacing bargaining unit members by management. A number of grievances related to news integration have been referred to arbitration.
For example, the National Grievance Committee discussed the replacement of Guild members assigned as executive producers with managing editors and the removal of that function from the bargaining unit. Such a case has been sent to arbitration. CMG is expecting more grievances of this nature on the table at the National Grievance meeting in March, including at least one from Ottawa.
CBC presents draft document on use of interns
CMG has consistently raised concerns about the role of interns and responded at the February meeting to a draft document presented by CBC on their use. Among the issues raised were: the work they should be allowed to do, when they should be paid, and how to make sure they are not used as replacement workers. The CBC will revise and provide the update to CMG prior to the next meeting.
Arbitration coming on union access
The National Grievance Committee was not able to come to an agreement about Union access to CBC premises. The Guild maintains that access to premises is vital. Our members need to be able to meet with CMG representatives. They can have individual questions answered, pick up CMG materials, discuss issues, find out about bargaining and ask for help.
A case arising from the refusal to allow an information booth in Toronto’s Atrium has been referred to arbitration.
Montreal meeting called for new media issues at SRC
A meeting will be held with the SRC in Montreal within weeks to discuss issues facing French-language new media workers, including the classification of webmaster jobs. A review was already conducted of English-language new media jobs and regional webmasters are being reclassified.
Guild determined to proceed on arbitrations
CMG has put the Corporation on notice that we are no longer prepared to wait through extended delays in settling arbitrations when our members’ jobs and/or incomes are at stake. We created a list of priority arbitrations and will ask the Minister of Labour to appoint arbitrators if we do not receive immediate action from the Corporation.