Dear colleagues and fellow CMGers,

You’ll be glad to know your new branch council has already met for the first time as we begin planning for what will be a busy year. Major items on our plates include wage reopener talks that start next month, redesigning our pension plan and preparing for full-fledged bargaining toward the end of the year.

During our last round of negotiations, concluded in June, we agreed to a two per cent wage increase for 2004 and to return to the table to talk money for 2005. We are in the process of finalizing a negotiating committee for the wage round and will be seeking your input as we head into talks.

All the Guild committees were reviewed to ensure we have no vacancies and a broad representation of the membership at the table. Some new committees set up following the last round of bargaining were left unchanged since they’ve only begun to work. Others, like Employment Equity which is working very well, were left unchanged. Angela Pacienza will replace Craig Wong on the National Training Committee. Craig’s move to Vancouver left Toronto underrepresented at this important table.

The key employer-employee committee at which big picture issues are discussed with senior managers has changed. As you may know, Scott Edmonds has been elected Vice-President of the Canadian Media Guild, the No. 2 spot in the union. He will continue to offer his expertise to our branch, but our new branch executive members, Martin O’Hanlon and Gillian Livingston, will replace Scott on the employer-employee committee. This group will be reviewing financial information quarterly as part of the deal that saw us give up a week’s pay to help the company weather its financial crisis. We expect future meetings will discuss changes in the business department and the impact of convergence/integration.

Finally, Scott Edmonds was appointed pension trustee to replace Brian McKenna. Over a period of almost 10 years, Brian was instrumental in raising key issues and his hard work and contribution is much appreciated. Scott has been immersed in the pension discussions during the last few years and will join Sandra Cordon in representing Guild members’ interests there.

So, Happy New Year to you all. As always, if you have any concerns or other feedback, please talk to your local president, any member of the executive, or call Kathy at the national office. We need to hear from you!

Regards.
Colin Perkel
CP/BN Branch President
perkx@sympatico.ca