Season’s Greetings to all.

Your elected representatives have made their volunteer efforts count on your behalf with many achievements in the past year.

Bargaining
We successfully concluded negotiations in May on our third collective agreement at TVO. Among the gains:

? Work-life balance provisions were added so that members may seek alternative work arrangements, or purchase additional vacation credit through payroll deductions.
? Job descriptions are to be reviewed and perhaps redefined through our regular labour-management joint committee meetings.
? Seniority rights were strengthened allowing for greater mobility in the event of layoffs
? As changes continue to revolutionize and reorder the media industry, the Guild has secured TVO’s commitment to consultation where significant change adversely affects the work we do as CMG employees.

At TFO
? Successfully negotiated a three-year collective agreement, the first at the newly independent TFO. Provisions are much the same as TVO’s, with some subtle differences.

Building internally
This year we established a network of stewards. They are: Daniel Bourr? at TVOKids, Erica Balch at the Agenda, Becky Fong at Gregg/Docs/Big Ideas/online, George Pyron at Acquisitions/Your Voice/network promos. At TFO, the stewards are Dino Goncalvez at Mini-TFO, St?phane Deraucroix at Panorama and H?l?ne Boudreault at R?seau.

Our grievance committee has new volunteers: Jeanette Kong and Paul Gardner are joining George Pyron and David Hawkins.

We also have filled two important ongoing union jobs: Member Recognition coordinator is Becky Fong; New Member coordinator is Sara Mercier.

There are still vacancies on the branch executive. VP-TVO chair is waiting to be filled by a member in good standing. We’ve added an executive-at-large for TFO, so that there will always be at least two TFO members on the Executive Council.

Member representations
It’s been a busy year in terms of CMG action on behalf of individual employees and employee groups. With your support, the Guild has resolved a number of disputes; assisted members with professional and training issues; ensured that members were compensated appropriately for the work they perform; dealt with the employer on specific disputes or complaints as well as working constructively to find solutions to common issues; and advocated on behalf of all employees for greater support of public broadcasting in Ontario and across Canada.

Among our happier tasks is recognizing our members who, in addition to being hard-working employees, somehow find the time to bring children into the world! Congratulations to Keith Robinson, Drew Mullin, Erica Balch, Meredith Martin and Albert Wisco.

Grievances
One long-standing grievance has been settled. Another is proceeding to arbitration. A third grievance related to CMG jurisdiction has been initiated.

Policy Review
Member recognition: Our branch has attempted to provide a small gift of congratulations to recognize parents in the event of new births. For a number of reasons we have revised the policy. From 2009 forward:

CMG branch at TVO-TFO shall recognize members who become first-time parents with a gift certificate of $100, or a $100 contribution to an RESP, after the birth of the first newborn(s). This is intended to be a congratulatory gesture to recognize the happy event in the life of our member. Any member who receives such a gift receives it once regardless of the number of children born. Only the first birth of a child or children (in cases of multiple births) of members will be recognized in this way.

Condolences: The union will continue to send small gifts of condolence when close family relatives of members pass away

Charitable giving: The union will continue to give $500.00 at Christmas to the Daily Bread Food Bank as an end of year donation.

Professional Development: The union will continue to consider requests for professional development assistance. Awards are to be added to support already attained from the employer for this purpose. The union’s contribution is to help reduce the cost borne by the member for registration, travel or other associated expenses. Members may not receive awards any two years in a row.

Advocacy
The national advocacy committee convened a conference call to conclude earlier brainstorms on new programming initiatives at TVO. That conference provided a basis for CMG’s deposition before the Queen’s Park standing committee on government agencies and crown corporations. The union will continue to lobby inside and outside TVO for new internal content initiatives and new content opportunities for CMG-TVO members.

Finances
Our branch receives dues remittances annually to conduct its local business. Remittances are received quarterly totalling nearly three thousand dollars per year. We also have access to funds from the CMG’s overall national budget for special projects as needed. We are carrying a balance of over $1,000 into 2009.

Next steps

? The executive council will attend a seminar on pensions in the New Year.
? At TVO joint labour-management committee, the Performance Management process is being itemized and job descriptions are to be addressed early in 2009.
? At TFO, members will have the opportunity to participate in the Vacation Purchase Plan (PACC en fran?ais) for summer 2009
? Establish active CMG participation in a new Joint Health and Safety Committee

Your CMG executive council,

David Hawkins, President
Yves ?tienne Massicotte, VP-TFO
George Pyron, Secretary/Treasurer

Have a happy and safe holiday.