Bargaining for our next collective agreement is officially underway. Our bargaining committee sat at the negotiating table last week with a clear direction because members took the time to outline the issues that matter to us.
About 1,200 members filled out the survey in June which, along with the feedback from local meetings and through the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) website, was integral to setting the following priorities we presented to management:
-Tackling precarious employment
-Pay and benefits that reflect the value of the work we do
-Resourcing our work to improve employee well-being and job satisfaction
-Improving union-management processes to be more effective
We also identified a number of issues that will be most effectively dealt with outside of collective bargaining, through other processes. We have put in motion plans to do just that.
New CBC/Radio-Canada president Catherine Tait and the senior management team joined us for part of the meetings last week. CMG president Kamala Rao was also present and we conveyed to management CMG members’ deep commitment to public broadcasting.
We are scheduled to meet with management again the week of October 1.
Although effective bargaining requires a certain amount of confidentiality, we are committed to keeping all members up to date as the process goes on. Expect regular communications from the bargaining team.
And by all means, please feel free to send us your thoughts. Just like member participation was key to setting priorities, your feedback will be equally important to the bargaining team during bargaining.
The best way to reach us is through the form here: http://www.cmg.ca/en/contact-our-cbc-bargaining-committee/
If you know of any members who are not getting updates, please share this with your CMG co-workers and encourage them to contact the CMG office with updated personal contact details: http://www.cmg.ca/en/membership-card/
Things are off to a good start because we are stronger together!
CMG Bargaining Committee at CBC/Radio-Canada:
Sujata Berry
Carolyn Dunn
Stéphany Lapperrière
Harry Mesh
Pierre Millette
Pauline Pemik
Naomi Robinson
Jonathan Spence
Olivier Desharnais-Roy, CMG Staff Representative
Karen Wirsig, CMG Staff Representative