The Canadian Media Guild has asked the federal Minister of Labour to appoint a conciliator to help settle a number of issues that remain unresolved in negotiating a first collective agreement for AAC employees.

What does this mean?

Conciliation does not mean that employees will be going on strike. Conciliation is a process set out in federal labour law and is commonly used in collective bargaining. The conciliator will help set bargaining dates and be present during the talks. The conciliator will help move discussions forward and suggest ways to break logjams.The best analogy is marriage counseling. Although the Guild and AAC management have reached agreement on about twenty articles, there are still quite a few issues that have yet to be worked out.

In many cases the difference between the two sides is easy to see but difficult to overcome. AAC management insists on maintaining its right to decide everything ? which, in our view, means the right to do whatever it wants. Management refuses to be held to any standard of fairness in terms of how, and even whether, employees receive training; how people are treated in the event of layoffs; or how you are treated in the event of illness or family emergency.

In some cases, management has pointed to its own policies. That in itself is fine; AAC has a number of policies that are actually fairly progressive. But management wants to be able to change its policies or rules, or eliminate them, without discussion and at any time.

We believe that employees need to know what is expected of them, and what they can expect from their employer. This is all the more important in a time of transition, where the company is changing hands and there could conceivably be major changes to rules, entitlements and benefits.

On the monetary side, we have requested increases in salaries and benefits that will reflect the financial success of AAC’s broadcasting operations.

We know many you will have questions about the conciliation process, as well as the possible next steps. We are planning to hold a general membership meeting to update you and answer your questions as best we can. Stay tuned for more details in the next few days.

Your bargaining team,
C. Masaaba Mwambu
Tom Rudman
Michelle Smith
Keith Maskell, CMG staff representative