We met with the Shaw management team and presented a counterproposal to the offer they delivered on April 18. Our proposal includes:
– The introduction of salary scales
– Employer pension contributions of 5% with voluntary employee matching
– Job descriptions
– Retention of 2 paid personal days
Our offer retains the scales from our previous proposal (see here) but removed the across-the-board increase for the second year. The new proposal ensures that every employee, including those at the top or above the proposed scales, still receives an increase of at least 1.5% in each year.
The cost of our salary proposal to the company is approximately $168,000 in the first year and another $256,000 in the second year. We note that revenue in the Shaw Media unit was $244 million in the December to February period, or second quarter, alone.
Management rejected our proposal. Their team then delivered a slight revision to their April 18 offer: 2% wage increases across the board each year for two years, up from 1.75%. (You can see their April 18 offer here
Your bargaining committee’s initial assessment is that management’s renewed offer does not address our main priorities of bringing salaries in line with the rest of the industry, ensuring equitable contributions to members’ pension savings and describing the jobs in our unit.
We are planning two membership meetings on Thursday May 5 to explain where we are in negotiations in more detail and discuss our next steps. Our plan is to hold meetings at noon and 5 pm on Thursday; we will confirm the location as soon as possible.
As always, please get in touch with us if you have any questions or comments. We’re looking forward to talking more on Thursday.
Your bargaining committee:
Mike Duong, Shaw Media branch president
Katy Boudreau
Sherisse White
Karen Wirsig, CMG staff
Keith Maskell, CMG staff representative