Network's editorial staff to vote
on tentative
deal that aims
to improve
labour-management relationship
Canadian
Media Guild | TNG Canada
Local 30213
Editorial employees at the Aboriginal
Peoples Television Network (APTN) will vote Wednesday
on a tentative agreement that lays the foundation for
a new relationship with management.
The five-year deal, hammered out
during weekend bargaining, is retroactive to April
24, 2006, and includes annual salary increases of two
per cent, plus a $500 "retention incentive" to
be paid to all employees once the agreement is ratified.
More important for the two dozen staff who work as
producers, studio crew, reporters, master control operators,
videojournalists, researchers, shooter/editors, anchors
and broadcast technicians, is a commitment from both
sides to improve management-labour relations.
“This deal is about management and employees
promising to work to improve training, feedback on
performance, and workload,” says Greg Taylor,
vice-president of the Canadian Media Guild's APTN branch
and a member of the bargaining committee. “That
means that the real work starts now to create a positive
and productive workplace so that all editorial members
can be confident that they have a real future in building
this important national network.”
Jean
LaRose, CEO of the private,
not-for-profit corporation, says the tentative agreement “represents
the culmination of months of discussions aimed at
resolving issues of concern to members of the bargaining
unit while ensuring the stability and long-term viability
of APTN. I am very confident that this agreement has
achieved those aims."
APTN, based in Winnipeg, has news bureaus in Halifax,
Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatoon, Vancouver and
Yellowknife.
The rapid growth of the network in the past two years
has led to concerns about the pace of change and its
affects on staff. LaRose has committed to working with
key members of the bargaining unit and all editorial
employees to develop a process to address those issues.
Guild members will be able to discuss details of the
tentative agreement with the bargaining committee during
a telephone conference Tuesday evening. The committee
has recommended that members ratify the deal in Wednesday's
national telephone vote.
(This is an edited compilation of two
communiques posted on the Canadian
Media Guild website.)