As the CBC Branch of our union gets ready to negotiate a new collective agreement with CBC/SRC, we have selected a bargaining team that will work with members to advance our priorities at the bargaining table. Our collective agreement expires on March 31, 2019.

Here are the bargaining committee members, in alphabetical order:

Nasr Ahmed – Associate producer with CBC Sports.
Sujata Berry – Toronto Location Unit steward, joint management-labour committee member in Toronto, and producer in CBC network talk radio.
Carolyn Dunn – Long serving Guild activist and senior reporter in Calgary.
Stéphany Laperrière – News editor/presenter for SRC, and SRC Director on the Toronto Location Unit Executive Committee. Former President of the Sudbury Location Unit.
Harry Mesh – Senior remote transmitter technician, Newfoundland and Labrador. A member of previous CMG bargaining committees who has also served on the CBC Branch Executive Committee and the CMG-CBC National Joint Committee.
Pierre Millette – President, Ottawa Location Unit and senior broadcast technologist for SRC.
Naomi Robinson – President, Toronto Location Unit and video production editor in news.
Jonathan Spence – President, CBC Branch. Toronto-based administrative staff member.

In addition, two CMG staff representatives will be members of our bargaining committee, Federico Carvajal and Karen Wirsig.

The committee was selected following a four-month process. The criteria that were weighed in making the selections are: regional representation, broad occupational representation – administrative, technical, editorial or digital areas, SRC representation, equity representation, employment status, and a diversity of experience including bargaining skills.

Find out more about the committee members here. 

Background on selecting the bargaining committee

A sub-committee (Jonathan Spence, Karen Wirsig, Kim Trynacity, Wendy Martin, Josh Lynn, Murray Cullen) was formed late last year to undertake the bargaining committee selection.  The sub-committee met several times earlier this year to discuss how to best encourage people to apply in order to have the largest pool of candidates.  They received 33 applicants from across the country and could choose seven to be part of the committee.  Their selection was recommended first to the Branch Executive Committee then to the Presidents’ Council for approval.

Bargaining is a crucial part of what we do together as union members, and the more we are engaged with the negotiations the more we can reach a collective agreement that reflects our goals as workers and the work we do at the public broadcaster. So, please look for more ways to get involved as negotiations progress.

Jonathan Spence ([email protected])

President, CBC/Radio-Canada Branch
Canadian Media Guild
on behalf of the CBC Branch Executive Committee