The tentative agreement with
The Canadian Press/Broadcast
News was reached by bargaining committee members
(clockwise from left) Terry Pedwell, Ken Trimble, Scott
Edmonds, Sylvain Laroque, CMG staff rep Kathy Viner,
and Colin Perkel.
17 May 2007
National news co-op employees
ratify
3-year agreement
Canadian
Media Guild | CWA Canada
Local 30213
Members of the Canadian Media Guild
who work at The Canadian Press/Broadcast News have
voted 83 per cent in favour of ratifying a tentative
collective agreement.
The national vote, held Tuesday and Wednesday, was
conducted via the Internet, which allowed members who
are on leave or on assignment to participate. The results
were announced this morning.
The three-year agreement contains wage increases of
3.0, 2.0 and 3.25 per cent, plus improvements to vision
care and paramedical benefits.
In an earlier communiqué to
members, the bargaining committee explained that
the wage increase would not be retroactive to the
contract's expiry date of Dec. 31, 2006:
"Your bargaining committee
believes the settlement is a good one. We agreed
to forgo retroactivity and split the increases in
order to achieve higher increases in base salary
rates over the three-year term of the agreement.
Close to 40 per cent of any retroactive money might
have been lost to income taxes. Also, further retroactive
money could have pushed some of you into a higher
tax bracket given the 2006 retro payment everyone
received in February.
" ... we went into these
talks seeking additional compensation for employees
who face new demands such as video. We feel the adjustment
in editorial salaries before the general rate increase
is applied goes part way to compensating for those
demands."
As of July 1, all Editorial Group
1 (news editor) and Group 3 (reporter/editor, national
photographer, foreign correspondent, photo editor,
photographer/photo editor) salary levels will be adjusted
upwards. Group 1 increases a maximum of $14.79 a week
to $1,510.16. Group 3 will increase by $12.88 to: Start
- $806.99; 1 year - $891.69; 2 years - $976.40; 3 years
- $1,069.21; 4 years - $1,157.93; 5 years - $1,300.62.
In addition, as of July 1, all employees
will receive a three-per-cent salary increase. In 2008,
a one-per-cent increase is applied on Jan. 1, followed
by another one per cent on July 1; a 1.5-per-cent increase
takes effect Jan. 1, 2009, with a further 1.75 per
cent on July 1.
As of this July 1, the vision care
benefit increases to $250 every two years from the
current $170 and the maximum claim under the health
plan for paramedical services (chiropractor, massage,
acupuncture, etc.) increases to $300 per claimant,
from the current $200.
The new collective agreement also contains reworked
language to address major out-of-town assignments,
shift premiums, jurisdiction and issues specific to
the Montreal bureau.
(This is an edited compilation of several stories
that were posted on the Canadian
Media Guild website.)