I hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable summer with family and friends. Many of us are right in the thick of reporting on the federal election right now, but I still wanted to give you a brief update on what we’ve been up to for the last few months.

At CP
We’ve already had two meetings of the Employer & Employee committee since signing our new agreement. In case you missed the earlier note, the agreement is now available online and has been shipped to all locations. We’ve discussed a number of things, including the conversion of part-time positions into full-time jobs, performance reviews and internships.

Since our last meeting in June, two full-time positions were posted on the video desk in Toronto. We are also waiting for answers from management on five other part-time positions in which the members were working nearly full time.

We have also agreed that training and health & safety will be standing items on all our agendas. If you have thoughts, concerns, or ideas about training, please let me or our staff representative Karen Wirsig (karen@cmg.ca) know. A further update on health and safety will follow shortly.

At Pagemasters
Most of you will know we reached a new collective agreement  in June. The text of the agreement should be available online and in hard copy shortly. The agreement includes decent wage increases, additional vacation entitlements and an automatic step increase for new employees. Thanks again to all the members and the bargaining committee for your work, and your commitment, during the process.

The new agreement also involves the creation of a couple of new committees. The first is a short-term committee to review the benefits plan, which will likely finish its work this fall. It’s important that employees have a say on an affordable plan that meets your needs. If you’re interested in taking part on this committee, please let Karen Wirsig (karen@cmg.ca) know. The second committee is to review schedules to make sure they work for people and maximize the number of full-time shifts. This committee will meet occasionally, as needed. If you’re interested in participating on this committee, please let Karen know (karen@cmg.ca).

I will probably have another update in November, if not before. In the meantime, don’t work too hard.

Terry Pedwell
President
Guild at CP/Pagemasters