Your CMG bargaining committee has been meeting regularly with delegates of VisionTV management since late July of last year. Since the beginning of negotiations, the two sides have explored a number of important issues:
Annual vacation
Leave (sick leave, self-funded leave etc.)
Temporary employees
Students and interns
Workload
Grievance/Dispute resolution and arbitration
Harassment
Discrimination
Discipline and discharge
This is not an exhaustive list; other topics have also been discussed. In most cases, formal proposals have been made and discussed. We are very close to agreement on several articles; others need additional fine-tuning. We are pleased with the progress, and especially the tone, of the negotiations so far.
As much as possible, we try to talk about the issues before drafting a proposal, rather than the other way around. That way we have an opportunity to identify areas of agreement, rather than either side having to fight a major battle.
There are a number of major areas that have yet to be discussed, many of them being financial in nature. Traditionally monetary issues are the last to be dealt with; both sides usually want to reach agreement on as many non-monetary issues as possible first.
At this point we are not working toward any specific deadline, although both sides have expressed a desire to get the best possible deal as quickly as we can.
If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the bargaining committee.