CTV Ottawa website screen capture
CTV Ottawa website

26 January 2007

TV newsroom staff ratifies a win-win deal

Ottawa Newspaper Guild | TNG Canada Local 30205

Newsroom staff at CTV Ottawa have ratified a tentative collective agreement that is all gains and no losses.

The four-year contract that covers about 26 employees at the station formerly known as CJOH-TV delivers across-the-board salary increases totalling 11 per cent, plus increases in talent fees, merit pay, and improvements in vacation and bereavement leave.

"We lost nothing. There were no concessions," says David Wilson, the TNG Canada staff representative who helped the bargaining team reach the new deal.

Wilson adds that there were two other important victories:

  • The weekend weather/entertainment reporter is now a Guild classification.

  • The station's principal anchors can now get up to three days off during the spring and fall ratings periods, which can run six to seven weeks. The anchors, says Wilson, "have been fighting for this for years." Previously, principal anchors were not allowed to take any time off during ratings periods.

Lois Kirkup, president of the Ottawa Newspaper Guild, who was on the bargaining team, says she wasn't surprised that things went so well in the talks to renew the contract that expired on Dec. 31.

"They have a very good relationship (with management) there and it (negotiating) went very well," she says.

Also on the team were bargaining unit co-chairs Kimothy Walker and Joanne Schnurr, Chris Day and John Ruttle.

In a ratification vote held yesterday, members voted 16-1 in favour of the deal.

Guild members in the newsroom, including anchors, producers, editors, writers, reporters, the sports director and assignment editors, signed on for a wage increase of 2.75 per cent in the first year (retroactive to Jan. 1), followed by annual increases of 2.5, 2.75 and 3.0 per cent.

The formula for merit pay in the third year of the agreement amounts to an additional salary boost of five per cent for those who qualify, says Wilson. Employees at the station can apply to receive merit pay, based on 11 criteria that include such things as core competency and technical knowledge, work performance, problem-solving skills and leadership.

Talent fees (paid when someone is on air) are rising from the current $37.50 per show to $50 in the final year of the contract.

The vacation improvement bumps the entitlement by four days to 29 for those with 28 years of service.