by Carmel Smyth, CMG president
I want to take a moment to wish you my best for the New Year.
I am delighted to hear from members who impress me daily with tales of tenacity, and of finding innovative ways to improve their working lives, and bond with colleagues. I am proud that through challenging times we have worked together to make small but significant gains, while fighting to protect quality jobs and quality journalism.
This year, we will be bargaining new collective agreements with a number of media organizations. In these times of budget cuts and economic uncertainty, I want to assure you we remain committed to getting the best deal possible. I know workload is a huge issue, as are job stability and respect in all its forms. We will continue to champion these things that are crucial for a vibrant, diverse media sector which includes support for online, freelance and other media workers with increasingly precarious work arrangements. As always, we will need to stick together.
We are also making efforts to expand our membership to maintain our ability to be an influential player in your defense, and in building an accessible and healthy media environment. You will occasionally hear us speaking up publicly when we feel compelled to add our voice to a significant or pressing issue. Last year was difficult for Canadian unions. We faced unprecedented political pressure with the introduction of legislation requiring time-consuming, extensive reporting of our activities to the federal government. In my view, Bill C-377 is harsh and unnecessary, and unfortunately, likely a signal of more battles to come as governments and employers attempt to undermine the power of workers and unions.
Finally, thank you for all the emails, calls of support, and requests for help. That is why we are here. May I suggest a New Year’s resolution? Consider putting your name forward for a position on your location unit, branch or national CMG executive. Elections for all of these positions will be taking place in early December. I look forward to hearing from you on this or any other issue.
On behalf of my CMG colleagues, I wish you a prosperous 2013. Stay in touch.
Carmel
Carmel Smyth,
National President, Présidente nationale
Canadian Media Guild/La Guilde canadienne des médias
416-591-5333 ext 233 416-459-6766 cell
1-800-465-4149
Follow Carmel on Twitter: @CarmelCMGpres