CMG Toronto President’s 2014 Year End Report
By Naomi Robinson

2014 Year-End Re-cap …

Here’s a round-up of some of the major events and actions that your Local Toronto Location has done in the past year…

Ratification voting was held on our latest collective agreement from January 27-31, and passed with an 80% approval… (The current contract is available at cmg.ca). Due to some concern and controversy – mainly surrounding language changing the National Reporter classification, the CBC Branch Executive Committee (BEC) struck a sub-committee to look at bargaining consultation issues (which I chair) …

There was an announcement of 657 jobs cut at a Town Hall with Hubert Lacroix on April 10 ( of the 657 Full Time Equivalencies cut across the country – 200 CMG jobs were here in Toronto). This included the loss of contract positions associated with 3 show cancellations (George, & 2 cooking shows). The restructuring of the Sales department was announced, which lead to job reclassifications & workforce adjustment in revenue during the fall months.… On April 30 redundancies went out, and we organized a large group of support volunteers to meet with affected members. …

There was a chief steward by-election (April 24) in which Tony Germin regained a seat on the LEC…

The biennial Canadian Media Guild National Convention was held May 23-25, and included a Toronto-led “Support the CBC” rally outside the Broadcast Centre. The rally focused on getting secure & increased public funding and a proper arm’s length relationship for the CBC Many of the Toronto Local Executive Committee attended a CMG New Leaders course the day before the convention as well…

CMG Toronto also re-populated our local committees this year, with a mix of experience and fresh faces. A list of committee members can be found on our website ( cmgtoronto.ca )

There was another Town Hall meeting on June 26 where Hubert Lacroix announced another 392 jobs across the country would be cut in the 2014 fiscal year – meaning almost 1100 jobs in 2014 were lost at CBC. We held an open general membership meeting right afterwards that day to help members process the news & it’s impacts – particularly as it was surmised that the documentary unit would be shut down.

We were told by CBC management that the SRC Joint Committee (a joint committee between CMG and management) was being closed down, which we considered to be an egregious error. A grievance was filed, and other efforts to re-instate it are at play.

CMG kept our profile up when members marched in the World Pride Parade on June 29, and also in the Labour Day parade on September 1. Another “Take a Break” Ice Cream day was held on August 14 – to encourage members to come down and take their 15 minute break.

Another Chief Steward by-election was held in October to replace Tamir Kojfman – which Jonathan Spence won.

We implemented our first “Map the Floor” ventures in September and November, creating a CMG presence in all corners of the building & re-establishing communication links with members.

The Jian Ghomeshi revelations cast our workplace into further turmoil, and shed light on the fact that we need to do more work on our policies and protocols on harassment in the workplace.

CMG Policies on harassment and protocols surrounding those issues are being examined. We’re also looking again at Respect in the Workplace workshops that are presented jointly between CBC & CMG to ensure that they properly address our current climate. A formal network of Stewards is also now being created here in Toronto

Redundancies were handed out on November 13 and a team of Guild reps. was put in place to meet with and help each affected member. The Guild continues to work diligently with management and HR members of the Local Joint Employment Committee to try to find placements for as many people as possible. We helped to organize a “Black Thursday” day of solidarity in locations across the country wherein many members wore black.

CBC’s Media Production Services held a meeting on October 30 and announced that CBC was getting out of all in-house productions (which will lead to 120 of 360 jobs cut by 2019), and that studios 42 & 43 will be shuttered. It was also revealed that they are looking at selling the Toronto Broadcast Centre and leasing space back. CMG was also shocked by the closure of the CBC Weather Centre in November, and an ensuing deal with the privately-owned Weather Network. A grievance is being filed on that issue.

We had another successful Holiday Party for Toronto CMG members at a new location this year (Baton Rouge) on December 4… a much needed chance to come together on a positive note to end our year.

The PMSD (Performance Management Staff Development) committee struggled to ensure that all parts of the building complied, but there is still confidence lacking in the program in some quarters.

The CMG Local Executive staffed information tables in the atrium most months, so that members could swing by with questions or concerns.

Toronto was represented at the CBC-CMG Branch Executive Committee, which holds a national conference call each month. The BEC also had face to face meetings on March 19-20, May 26-27 & Oct. 2-4.