As we reported, Shaw management made an offer to settle the contract on April 18. After a membership meeting that same day and a close examination of the offer, your bargaining committee deemed that the offer was not acceptable and developed a counter offer that we plan to present to management tomorrow. Our proposal includes the priorities you have set for this round of bargaining: salaries in line with the industry, fair contributions from the company to your pension savings, and descriptions of the jobs in the bargaining unit.

Shaw management has invited you to ask them questions about the offer they presented us, which did not meet any of these priorities. In the interest of helping you ask informed questions, we are making their written offer available online at: http://www.cmg.ca/ShawofferApr18.pdf

Most items are clear. Three need some additional clarification:

* Pension: the company offered to contribute 2% to all members’ pension and to match up to another 2% of employee contributions for a maximum of 4% employer contributions.

* Job Classifications and salary groups: the company has only acknowledged that some of the closed captioners are underpaid according to industry standards. They propose to move all closed captioners into Group 3 and change the title for all to “closed captioner.” However, this would involve little to no salary improvements for the affected members.

* Paid personal days: the company proposes to get rid of your 2 paid personal days and replace them with two new statutory holidays: November 11 and Easter Monday.

We believe a fair settlement is within reach and hope for fruitful discussions tomorrow at the bargaining table. We will report back after tomorrow’s session.

Thanks for your ongoing support toward getting a fair deal!

Your bargaining committee:
Mike Duong, Shaw Media branch president
Katy Boudreau
Sherisse White
Karen Wirsig, CMG staff
Keith Maskell, CMG staff representative