Lareau steps aside in bid to revitalize CMG leadership
Canadian
Media Guild | CWA Canada
Local 30213
Lise Lareau enters the new year looking somewhat wistfully over her shoulder at the job she's leaving, but firm in her conviction that changes at the helm revitalize union leadership.
The departing president of CWA Canada's largest Local, the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), says "union jobs shouldn't be for life." She chose to run (successfully) for a vice-presidential position in late-fall elections in which Carmel Smyth was selected to replace her on Jan. 1 in the full-time, paid position.
"Sometimes you have to step back and re-evaluate, bring a fresh perspective," says Lareau, who will be resuming her professional life as a television producer at the CBC.
In her last year-end note to the membership, Lareau recounts the many changes that have occurred in her 12-year tenure. Mergers of several unions, including ACTRA and CEP, saw the CMG grow to more than 5,000 members. Workplaces include the CBC, The Canadian Press and Reuters. Organizing campaigns have brought others into the CMG fold, such as TVOntario, the Aboriginal People's Television Network, Shaw Media (formerly Alliance Atlantis) and ZoomerMedia (formerly Vision TV).
"The spirit of creating our own way of doing things — merging many different union styles — makes us strong, innovative and truly unique in the Canadian labour movement. The way all of us handled the lockout at the CBC in 2005 is one shining example," she writes.
Lareau says the reforms came about because the CMG "wanted to make sure members were truly in charge of their union." She urges all members to retain those principles:
"It's easy to let others — in this case, paid staff — do union work," she writes. "But only you — members — know what's valuable to you, what life is really like at your workplace and what your union should be about. You need to trust your instincts and be vocal or involve yourself, in big ways and small ones."
Lareau predicts that changes in the media industry will be a major challenge for the CMG.
"Our union needs to be intelligently watching the industry, identifying the on-the-ground problems that can and should be addressed and thinking ahead to the next ones. We need to keep learning how to work in mature relationships with employers such as CBC and The Canadian Press and to forge productive relationships with new employers such as ZoomerMedia and Shaw Media. Throughout, we need to maintain our independence and our voice."
As vice-president and no longer in charge of an office and staff of 16, Lareau says she intends to "scope out a new, smaller role and focus on giving more people a collective voice and keeping the union growing and alive."
