The new collective agreement was ratified by the membership on October 11, 2005 and we have been working to iron out some of the bugs and to get it ready for publication. We are hopeful that printed copies will be in the hands of members early in the New Year.

For the most part members have received their signing bonus and retroactive pay. However, there remain some outstanding issues which the Guild and the CBC have been meeting in an effort to resolve. The following is a review of those issues.

Signing Bonus

The signing bonus should have gone to all employees (permanent and non-permanent) who were on the payroll on August 14, 2005 and who had worked at least 13 weeks in the period beginning April 1, 2004 to that date. We have been advised that all employees who met this criterion have been paid.

Retroactive Pay

The Guild negotiated full retroactive pay for the period April 1, 2004 to October 11, 2005. Most eligible employees received it. However, we appear to be in dispute with the Corporation on this issue. The CBC has taken the position that in order to receive retroactive pay an employee must have returned to work following the lockout. This means that people who worked during the April ? October period and who retired, were laid off, became ill or who worked as temporary employees have not been paid. The Corporation has also taken the position that people who accepted overtime buyouts are not eligible for retroactive pay for their overtime. We have been attempting to resolve these issues but it now appears it will be necessary to grieve this issue and take it to arbitration in order to get a satisfactory resolution.

Pay for October 7 and 10, 2005

Notwithstanding the fact that we had not ratified our tentative collective agreement, we agreed to allow some employees to return to work early in order to begin maintenance work and to broadcast Hockey Night in Canada and some CFL games. For that the CBC agreed to put locked-out employees back on the payroll for October 7 and for the Thanksgiving Holiday, October 10. To be eligible an employee (permanent or non-permanent) had to return to work on October 11. We understand some employees have not been paid for these days and are following it up with the Corporation.

Job Evaluation

The new Job Evaluation (JE) process comes into effect on January 9, 2006. The rollout of information on JE has been disappointingly slow but we are making every effort to ensure that it is done correctly. The salary bands, job descriptions, slotting and challenge processes have all been agreed to. We now expect that by early next week all of these elements, along with a “Frequently Asked Questions” page will be posted on the Guild and CBC websites. By the middle of next week employees should start receiving individual slotting letters and challenge forms.

The delay has been caused primarily by dealing with the so-called retroactive JE money. We want to ensure that everyone who is entitled to some of the $20-million earmarked for retroactive pay receives that pay.

Other issues

There are a number of implementation issues affecting individuals or smaller groups, concerning such things as the payment of overtime and conversion to staff, that continue to be discussed with the Corporation. We remain hopeful that we can find resolution to these issues in the not-too-distant future.

We thank you for your patience as we work through the outstanding issues.

Dan Oldfield
Senior Staff Representative
Canadian Media Guild