The Canadian Media Guild’s agreement at CBC expires in less than a year and it’s time to begin the process of selecting a team to represent our 5,500 members during the next round of talks.

The committee is responsible for all aspects of negotiations with the Corporation, including research, development of proposals, bargaining and communications with the membership. Prospective committee members must be willing and able to dedicate significant time and effort to the negotiations process. Negotiating is hard work and can be physically and emotionally demanding.

Although the collective agreement doesn’t expire until March 31, 2009, we expect talks to begin as early as June and July of this year, with work into the fall. Bargaining committee members can expect to be away from their jobs and their homes for weeks at a time.

It is not necessary to have bargained a collective agreement before. We have found that the best approach to forming a bargaining committee is to gather together a group of people with a wide variety of skills and abilities. Members of the bargaining committee should be:

– team players
– prepared to participate actively in planning for as well as bargaining with the employer
– able to communicate with Guild members, as well as with the public at large
– familiar with the workplace and the existing collective agreement
– able to do research and develop strategy
– able to draft clear contract language
– able to keep complete and accurate notes and records

In addition to these basic criteria, candidates from all work groups will also be considered with a view to providing balance on the basis of media (radio/TV/new media), language, gender and geography.

If you are interested, please submit a letter outlining why you want to join the committee, and which skills and abilities you believe you will bring to the team. Send your letter to info@cmg.ca.

The CBC Branch Executive Council will select the team.

The deadline for applications is Friday May 9.