03 May 2005

Sector Executive Council meeting
brings issues to conference agenda

TNG Canada West Vice-President's Report

Scott Edmonds

This report is a bit difficult, since it is being written before the Sector Conference and TNG Canada Representative Council meeting, which may make some of this report's contents old news, but here goes anyway.

First, some highlights of the last Sector Executive Council meeting.

TNG President Linda Foley reported on the media cross-ownership debate in the United States. Despite victories so far that have scuttled Federal Communications Commission plans to scrap ownership restrictions, the issue is headed back to the courts.

Secretary-treasurer Bernie Lunzer reported on continuing problems with the CWA membership department, problems many TNG Canada Locals have encountered in trying to get their dues payments acknowledged in a timely manner. He is still working to resolve these problems.

Contracts executive-secretary Carrie Biggs-Adams reported on continued problems with Univision in Puerto Rico at Teleonce where, in a dispute reminiscent of what many Canadian Locals have encountered with CanWest, local control and content are being lost. Puerto Ricans are even losing their jobs because their accents aren’t in tune with the kind of Spanish Univision prefers.

Biggs-Adams also delivered an update on the development of the new contract database, which should soon be available to Local presidents as well as staff and looks like it will be a valuable resource. It includes all contracts that have been supplied electronically.

She said to reinvigorate chain councils it has become clear it is important to get someone to handle co-ordination, something we in TNG Canada have learned with the CanWest Global Caucus that has benefited from the guidance of IR Marion Needham.

The Defence Fund has a new financial adviser and is undergoing greater scrutiny following difficulties with our last account manager.

Human Rights Director Debbie Thomas was drafting a policy on harassment – bullying in the workplace. A monthly column in the Guild Report, Human Rights Watch, was started in January and among other things it highlights sensitive words that strike chords with various groups. Thomas reminds Locals they are required to appoint a human rights co-ordinator and so far there are 34 as part of the TNG network.

The council heard from U.S Region 5 vice-president Peter Szekely about the continuing problems at Reuters in the United States where Guild members are fighting to prevent their jobs from being exported. They have used tactics that include a byline strike, information picketing and mass RSI breaks. The company wants to cut its health-care contributions by 26 per cent and weaken employment protection for technicians.

The Guild Defence and Mobilization Fund had a balance of more than $2.6 million as of Feb. 28 and our total international membership stood at 33,000 according to the CWA, with 7,157 in Canada East and 639 in Canada West (CMG members are counted in Canada East although they vote where they work, which accounts for some of the seeming imbalance).

The Defence Fund has a new financial adviser and is undergoing greater scrutiny following difficulties with our last account manager. The Guild is still looking at what actions it can take against the broker who made investment decisions we felt go against the guidelines we established for the fund. His employer has rejected our request that they recompense the Guild for financial losses we feel should not have been incurred.

The reports, resolutions and action plans that flowed from the Convergence II conference are being presented at the TNG Sector Conference and so there is no point repeating what was discussed there.

The SEC also reviewed a proposed code of ethics, labeled a code of rights and responsibilities, for editorial employees in the media. That too will be presented for discussion and may be changed at the Sector Conference.

As you also will hear, we have been working on another brief on media concentration which will (hopefully) have been presented to the Senate committee studying the issue at this point.

Much of it focuses on the continued and escalating threat CanWest poses to The Canadian Press, my bargaining unit.

And finally, I must offer my two cents worth and put on paper a formal expression of appreciation for the honour of working for so many years with retiring Eastern Vice-President Percy Hatfield, both at the local, national and international level.

I don’t want this to sound like an epitaph. But at least at the level of the Sector Executive Council we are losing one of the most thoughtful, caring and dedicated executive members I have ever known.

Many of you know the toll such dedication takes on a person’s professional and personal life. To say he will be missed is a silly understatement. I know he will remain an active union member as long as he works at the CBC and those of us in the Canadian Media Guild will be able to count on him, as we always have, for sage advice and support.

But from this body at least, I would hope I express for all how we will feel the loss of someone who has been such an important member of TNG Canada as it struggled to find its way.