Welcome to the second issue of News and Notes From CMG at AAC! We’ve changed our format a bit to try to make the newsletter more reader friendly. It’s been some time since our first issue and we’ve been hard at work on several things that are included in this issue. As always, if you have any questions or comments for any of the Executive, please feel free to bring them to our attention in person or through the email addresses at the end of this newsletter.
Message From the President
Hello Fellow Guild Members,
Some people wait for something to happen in their lives. Some people experience hard times and can’t recover, while others can rebound and succeed. Some people become comfortable with their jobs even though they may not like them, comfortable with their pay, even though it is not at market value, allow other people to define them and determine and measure their success.
Some people see this glass as half empty; we at Alliance Atlantis see this glass as half full! This is evidenced in different ways and most recently by our decision to organize ourselves into a union to make our workplace a better environment that we can all be proud of!
In spite of some of the difficulties and challenges we have faced in the past, today we have a new attitude that is an intention of negotiating and making agreements with the management at AAC to better ourselves and the company in the process. We would like to build a respectful relationship with management and focus on solving ? even preventing ? problems.
So today we focus our attention on the tasks of the forthcoming negotiation period. Our dedication to this process and expected end results will not waver. It will be positive when we are done. I ask that anyone who would like to volunteer their time to help in this process please contact any of the executive.
Thanks
Masaaba Mwambu
President AAC branch CMG
Bargaining Committee
We’d like to introduce CMG at AAC’s very first bargaining committee:
Masaaba Mwambu ? BEC President
Rob VanSickle ? BEC Vice President at Large
Tom Rudman ? Art Director
These three individuals, along with Keith Maskell, our Staff Representative at CMG, will be responsible for negotiating our first Collective Bargaining Agreement. Negotiations are scheduled to begin in September, so over the summer these guys will be busy preparing for this important task by researching other bargaining agreements and studying the results from our own bargaining survey. To read the objectives which were presented to management, surf to www.cmg.ca/AAC%20bargaining%20objectives.pdf .
The Unfair Labour Practice complaint – status report
As most of you will recall, the Guild filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board earlier this year about AAC’s decision to not implement salary increases for unionized employees. At the CIRB’s invitation, an informal meeting was held on August 4 to see whether there might be a way to resolve the dispute in some way. We’re sorry to say that those discussions didn’t go as far as either side would have liked. As a result, it is likely that the CIRB will convene a more formal hearing. In the meantime, though, we’re continuing to talk to AAC management to try to find an amicable resolution. Stay tuned.
New VP – Closed Captioning and Post!
We’re sure you’ve seen the notice on the bulletin boards announcing a byelection to choose a new VP ? Post Production and Closed Captioning. Chris Wenman recently stepped down from the post for personal reasons. We’d like to thank him for his hard work over the past months.
We’d also like to introduce the new VP ? Joanne Pak from Closed Captioning. We’re sure that Joanne is going to make a great addition to the executive.
Birthdays and Announcements
Is someone in your department expecting a baby? Or do you have a coworker who has recently purchased a new home? Let us know!
This space in the newsletter is going to be reserved for letting everyone know about the new and exciting things that are happening to our members. If you’ve got an announcement that you would like to make, email Michelle at princess_frog_78@hotmail.com so she can add it to the next newsletter.
Contact Us!
Masaaba Mwambu ? BEC President
mwambu1@yahoo.com
Rob VanSickle ? VP at Large
rob.vansickle@rogers.com
Michelle Smith ? Secretary-Treasurer
princess_frog_78@hotmail.com
Brent Tennant ? VP Master, Library, Dub, Presentation, QC
entropy41@hotmail.com
Ilya Doronin ? VP Engineering
doronin@aci.on.ca
Joanne Pak ? VP Closed Captioning, Post Production
joannepak@hotmail.com