It has come to our attention that some of our members may be under the mistaken impression that we have abandoned the bargaining process. This, as a result of CBC management’s recent communiqu?, which seriously misrepresented the current situation.

To set the record straight: the Guild bargaining committee remains together. We are located in the same hotel meeting rooms where we have spent the past eight months. We are conveniently located just two floors away from the Corporation bargaining committee. No one from that committee has made any attempt to contact us since earlier this week.

On Monday night the CBC requested a meeting of a subcommittee that has been attempting to deal with the vital issue of Employment Status. It was the first response on the issue from the Corporation since we tabled a comprehensive proposal on that issue on July 21, 2005. At the meeting, representatives of the Corporation bargaining committee advised us that they would only bargain the issue if we based the discussions on their proposal. We told them ? as we have consistently from day one ? that we will not agree to excluding entire classifications (e.g. all producers, all AP/technicians, all sales reps) from permanent jobs. At that point we told the Corporation that we would be in touch.

We have maintained contact with the federal mediators who have also been meeting with the Corporation. We have advised them that we continue to be available to negotiate, but that we aren’t prepared to simply accept ultimatums. We will follow the advice of the mediators and we remain hopeful that the Corporation will come to the table with a willingness to negotiate.

Your bargaining committee:

Arnold Amber, Toronto
Pierre Claveau, Vancouver
Brendan Elliott, Charlottetown
Percy Hatfield, Windsor
Joe Hill, Toronto
Wendy Hunt, Toronto
Gerry Jones, Regina
Barbara Saxberg, Toronto
Lee Siemon, Toronto
Chris Turner, Fredericton
Rick Warren, Vancouver
Dan Oldfield, Senior CMG staff representative