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Lockout Ends in Job Security Win for Canadian Media Guild
After 17 months of difficult negotiations and a seven-week lockout, 5,500 members of the Canadian Media Guild-CWA at the country's public broadcasting network voted by a wide margin to accept a contract that ensures their job security - the major issue at the bargaining table.
"We finally have established that there will be no runaway use of contract employees," said Arnold Amber, director of TNG Canada. "This was the major battle ground in the negotiations and we have won."
It's a victory that CWA President Larry Cohen says might not have been possible, at least not as quickly, in the United States today, where White House policies and anti-worker laws have rolled back the clock on employee rights. "The political climate here has been chilly at best for workers for the past five years, which isn't the case in Canada," Cohen said. "That's why it's so important that union families and all workers make their voices heard on December 10, International Human Rights Day."
The CBC agreement limits the number of contract employees to 9.5 percent of permanent staff. Workers who have been on contract for four years can convert to permanent status, and the provision is ongoing: Anyone on contract who completes four years of service during the life of the agreement - ending March 31, 2009 - will be able to convert to permanent status.
Other improvements to the contract include a wage increase of 12.6 percent over the next 4-1/2 years and a $1,000 signing bonus. In addition, a review will be conducted within 90 days of all non-permanent staff to ensure that people have been properly hired and assigned.
TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said CBC alienated its workers, angered the public and achieved nothing by locking out its employees. "You had a public corporation behaving with the same greed and short-sightedness we've come to expect from private employers in the United States," she said.
In a letter to union members, CMG President Lise Lareau said, "we are returning to work as changed people… We've learned to work together in new and exciting ways and we shouldn't forget that once we are back inside our workplaces."
The locked-out employees, who returned to work Oct. 11, had enormous support throughout Canada from viewers to celebrities and political leaders.
"We finally have established that there will be no runaway use of contract employees," said Arnold Amber, director of TNG Canada. "This was the major battle ground in the negotiations and we have won."
It's a victory that CWA President Larry Cohen says might not have been possible, at least not as quickly, in the United States today, where White House policies and anti-worker laws have rolled back the clock on employee rights. "The political climate here has been chilly at best for workers for the past five years, which isn't the case in Canada," Cohen said. "That's why it's so important that union families and all workers make their voices heard on December 10, International Human Rights Day."
The CBC agreement limits the number of contract employees to 9.5 percent of permanent staff. Workers who have been on contract for four years can convert to permanent status, and the provision is ongoing: Anyone on contract who completes four years of service during the life of the agreement - ending March 31, 2009 - will be able to convert to permanent status.
Other improvements to the contract include a wage increase of 12.6 percent over the next 4-1/2 years and a $1,000 signing bonus. In addition, a review will be conducted within 90 days of all non-permanent staff to ensure that people have been properly hired and assigned.
TNG-CWA President Linda Foley said CBC alienated its workers, angered the public and achieved nothing by locking out its employees. "You had a public corporation behaving with the same greed and short-sightedness we've come to expect from private employers in the United States," she said.
In a letter to union members, CMG President Lise Lareau said, "we are returning to work as changed people… We've learned to work together in new and exciting ways and we shouldn't forget that once we are back inside our workplaces."
The locked-out employees, who returned to work Oct. 11, had enormous support throughout Canada from viewers to celebrities and political leaders.