On Friday April 20, Guild members at TVOntario will be asked to vote on a proposal to extend the current collective agreement to October 28, 2007. The Memorandum of Agreement provides for a wage increase of 2.5% retroactive to last October and payable now.

The decision to recommend the extension is based on a few factors, the most significant being the decision by the Government of Ontario to create TFO as a separate legal entity on April 1. While the two broadcasters will continue to share services, such as master control, archives, warehousing and transmission, the new French language broadcaster will have its own staff, facilities and governance structures. It means that, in the future, the Guild will have to bargain two separate agreements for its members.

The Guild and the Authority feel the extension will give us needed time to adjust to this new reality. The Guild has tabled most of its non-monetary proposals and a similar package will be presented to the management committee for TFO. This will ensure that when bargaining begins again in the fall, we will hit the ground running.

The Guild bargaining committee realized it would be virtually impossible to reach an agreement by summer, which was our original goal. The extension with retroactive wage increase means you won’t have to wait for a well-deserved raise while we deal with the transition to two different employers.

The meeting for Guild members will be held on Friday April 20 in room 504 beginning at 11:30 am. Voting on the memorandum of agreement will take place at that time.

For more information, get in touch with the Guild (info@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333.

Your bargaining committee:
Carol Burtin Fripp
David Hawkins
George Pyron
Yves-?tienne Massicotte
Lara Hindle
Dan Oldfield, CMG senior staff representative