First things first: we want to deal with recent rumours about a potential CMG strike at Alliance Atlantis in early January. Those of you who have read our previous communiqu?s or attended our general meeting in October will know that Guild members can’t take strike action until they have given a mandate to their bargaining committee by way of a strike vote. No strike vote has taken place, and none is planned at this time. If and when your bargaining committee decides a strike mandate is necessary, we will let you know via communiqu?s like this one ? not by word of mouth.

The CMG and AAC bargaining teams are meeting full-time this week and next. Federal conciliation officer Buck Reed is facilitating the meetings to help both sides reach agreement. Some progress has been made this week, although there are issues where we can’t just accept “trust me” ? especially given that the company is changing hands and new rules or procedures may or will come into effect.

Both sides have expressed a desire to reach a deal before the December holiday season if at all possible. On the other hand, a hard deadline doesn’t necessarily make for a good deal, so if we don’t have something acceptable by the end of next week we will continue negotiations. We have told the conciliator and the employer that we are willing to be locked into a conference room for as many hours as it takes.

One of the most important questions we’ve dealt with this week is how the employer will deal with you in the event that the new owner decides to implement layoffs. We are closer to resolution than we were even a couple of weeks ago, but we haven’t reached an acceptable solution yet. Other issues, such as the key issue of employee compensation, remain to be dealt with.