Graphic: CBCOnTheLine.ca

03 October 2005

CMG, CBC sign agreement-in-principle

Proposed contract establishes that 'a permanent workforce
is the heartthrob of the corporation'

Canadian Media Guild | TNG Canada Local 30213

Negotiators for the Canadian Media Guild and CBC management toasted their agreement-in-principle Monday morning in a ceremony with Labour Minister Joe Fontana, moving 5,500 locked-out employees a big step closer to returning to work.

The signing ceremony put in force an agreement struck earlier Monday, at 12:50 a.m., after a marathon bargaining session at Labour Ministry offices in Gatineau, Que.

CMG officials expect ongoing discussions about a return-to-work protocol will, by the end of Monday, give workers a timetable for voting on the contract offer and, if it is ratified, a return-to-work date as early as next week.

Picket lines are remaining up until further notice.

In an interview early Monday with Tod Maffin of the cbcunplugged web site, TNG Canada/CWA Director and lead CMG negotiator Arnold Amber called the proposed contract a win for workers because it establishes that "a permanent workforce is the heartthrob of the corporation.

"We have a cap now on the percentage of contract workers that the CBC will be allowed to bring in at 9.5 per cent of the permanent workforce."

When management locked out its workers seven weeks ago, it stated that, as of March, five per cent of its workforce – 289 people – were contract employees. Another 28 per cent of CBC workers were classified as temporary or casual. In recent days, management pegged the total number of contract employees at 180.

Other highlights of the agreement-in-principle include:

• improved rights for contract and temporary employees
  
  
• a wage increase of 12.6 per cent over the life of the contract to March 31, 2009
  
  
• full retroactivity for all employees on the payroll prior to the lockout, including contract and temporary employees
  
  
• a $1000 signing bonus
  
  
• a new "interpreters' premium" of $800 per year for northern employees required to work in more than one language
  
  

In the interview with Maffin, Amber said there were two "tipping points" in negotiations which intensified after Labour Minister Joe Fontana declared a news blackout on Thursday, which was extended throughout the weekend.

The first breakthrough came Saturday morning when a mediator suggested a way to overcome two or three outstanding issues that led to a mechanism to push negotiations ahead, Amber said.

The second tipping point came Sunday night when an exchange of written proposals on outstanding issues brought a "very positive" response from management at about 11 p.m. Two more exchanges, Amber said, and the tentative agreement was finished.

Amber, the CBC branch president of CMG, praised the union's members for conducting a "new age modern labour dispute." Most media observers said CMG members won the public relations war against management with the ingenious use of official and unofficial web sites, blogs, podcasts and an effective campaign to lobby members of parliament.

"Many people had a great time on the line and did some of the most imaginative and thoughtful things, and it became a work of art, this labour dispute," Amber said.

In a statement, CBC management said it welcomed the agreement-in-principle and looks forward to overcoming "the challenges that this labour dispute has presented for us – our future as an organization depends on it.

"We will be launching a wide array of new programs and content on all our services in the days and weeks to come. Our successes, past and future, are due to the dedication, talent and creativity of everyone who works here – and we are delighted, and more than a little relieved, to welcome all of you back."

In an interview Monday with the Globe and Mail, CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald said the proposed deal "will allow us to do the kinds of things we think we need to do as a public broadcaster."

"As a result of compromise, we've ended up with an agreement that reflects the concerns that they (workers and guild representatives) raised," he said.

It was unclear Monday if an interim deal will be struck to allow a normal broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday night – the first scheduled telecast of the show since the 2004-2005 NHL season was scrapped because of a players' strike.

In an interview with the Globe, MacDonald said: "Everybody wants Hockey Night in Canada back. One way or another we will have hockey Saturday night. What it looks like will depend on how quickly we can get people back and all of that."

The tentative deal also paves the way for an appearance by top CBC executives before the parliamentary Heritage Committee. Besieged by public complaints about the loss of regular CBC programming, committee members have said they want the brass to explain the lockout and what will be done to overcome the damage it inflicted on the corporation.

The Globe reported Monday that "a number of political observers expect the executives, including CBC president Robert Rabinovitch, to be grilled by the committee on why the lockout was called in the first place."

Additional information can be found on the Canadian Media Guild web site.

(This story courtesy the Canadian Media Guild's lockout web site CBCOnTheLine.ca.)