Details of the New Tentative Agreement
On Thursday the CMG released more details of the new collective agreement. “In short it has been agreed this deal is merely the starting point… Improving the ongoing relationship between the parties is the key element in this deal,” the Guild email said.
One of the major points of the deal is a 1.5 per cent salary increase effective January 1, 2009 – which means if you make $50,000 a year at you’ll be looking at a $750 dollar raise on January 1st, 2009. The 1.5 per cent rate is set by the federal Treasury Board and affects all public service unions.
“The proposed salary increases are a reflection of the current financial crisis and the limits in funding for wage increases for the public service set by Treasury Board. Other public service Unions are seeing rollbacks, we fortunately are not,” Marc-Philippe Laurin, the CMG branch president, who helped negotiate the deal said this week. “If the [Treasury Board] rate goes up in year three, four and five, we get the difference,” he added.
The deal is contingent a late January ratification vote by CMG members.
Other highlights of the deal include:
- An increase of the co-parenting provisions to 80% from 75%;
- Three weeks severance for every year of service compared to two weeks in the last collective agreement;
- Allows employees to buy additional vacation time;
- Increased access and choice for training;
- A review of compensation for IT and maintenance staff, and a review of sales targets and commissions for sales staff;
- An acknowledgement that the bureaucratic and painful PMSD process doesn’t really work.
Overall the deal reflects CBC President Hubert Lacroix’s direction. One of the major elements of the deal – improving the relationship between employees and management – is one of Lacroix’s major objectives. “This is the first time in my CBC career that bargaining has involved real dialogue from beginning to end,” Laurin said.
In some ways it’s amazing that the we’ve gone from being locked-out to a reaching new collective agreement based on trust and improved relationships in the span of four years. “Many things changed in this round of bargaining, but mainly the perception each had of the other as the enemy,” Laurin said.
The deal is also considered a living document – it’s more of guide than the final word. And it’s not set in stone. Some of the provisions can be changed, with mutual agreement, during the course of the agreement.
The full details of the deal are available here.
So what do you think of the deal? Is it good, bad, does it depend too much good relationships, or this a better way forward than picket signs and walking shoes?
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Working is far better than standing on a picket line. I just have a lot of trouble actually believing the CBC morphed on the way it wants to deal with staff.
I’m glad that we were able to settle before the contract expired. Not like the CBC I know so it has me thinking what’s in it for them?
Hopefully this is a new way the CBC wants to do business with its employee’s instead of how Richard Stursberg sent a memo to staff out at the start of the last lock out on “how the CBC had no choice but to lock out its employees”.
I wonder if Richard Stursberg is only getting 1.5% increases over the next 5 years? If he is I’m sure his bonus cheques, which the CBC probably calls, incentive performance transfer, will be hefty
PMSD has been a real drain on valuable time and effort. Can’t we just put this to bed and deal with more pressing issues than a tool your manger uses as a switch?
WFA the latest non threatening acronym for layoffs.
More committee’s to deal with work life balance?
CBC talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk.
A full lunch or break what’s that?
Arrive 10 minutes late due to transit way issues and the manager is on your back
As for the excessive work load how is it the employee’s issue? The employee points the workload out the manager and she says she’ll look into it. Then gets back saying workload it is in line with corporation policy, cites numerous examples from small CBC locations, and then wants to know why you’re not a team player?
Also she writes that up in your PMSD
Shift changes are constant and are there to save $$$ and the CBC won’t change the way they do business.
Sure some folks never have their shift changed but some the constant changes to some of our schedules, by fellow CMG members, is like playing ping pong.
I really do hope I’ve erred with my comments and CBC has turned over a new leaf.
Wonder if the suits are already trying to track my IP address?
Does anyone know how a “WFA” effects contract employees? I’m on a contract. In the event of layoffs am I first to go? Besides pension, what are the differences between contract and full-time? I worry as I’m not that young anymore. Should I be pushing to be permanent or does being on a contract actually have advantages other than getting money instead of pension, which I’m not so sure is actually a good thing?
If they are hiring permanents after I am hired on a contract, should I be applying?
Great Comment Glad, You captured a lot of my sentiments.
I, too, am cautiously optomistic but am still am extremely wary of Mgm’t. Hope Dan et. al. are looking for loopholes with an electron microscope.
How much time has been wasted on PMSD? Who, aside for those in senior positions has ever seen any effect from the system other than being stressed out by making blind promises that end up being completely dependent on forces outside your control? I’m lucky, I have a fairly competent (if overly large) Managemt structure directly above me. If PMSD was it….we’d be doomed.
IT review? LOL, bring it on…but who will do the eval? The PE descriptions were a joke and written by people on both sides that just don’t have any idea about what IT does. This may be due to the massive proportion of IT personnel being in APS or contract. I admit to feeling sorry seing them remote connect to their work until 2am with no OT or turnaround (or recognition of any sort). I’d rather an APS person in-house do the CMG IT eval than any outside consutant.
I also find it very sadly ironic that the parental benefit thing is given so much ink. It really is a lost leader, affects very few, and is like kissing babies during an election. I’d like to know if other forms of leave due to work-related disablement will be treated with the same equanimity. I want to see the full document.
(I should mention that I have had to take leave and was treated fairily by all parties both during my leave and after my return…I owe a lot to CMG and HR fo that)
Oh, and Glad? I wouldn’t worry about the IP trace too much…Unless there is a CBC Black-Ops division, it would likely be done by those overworked APS people in IT and I don’t think their Management structure has the time or organization to put that in the SLA.
And why not can the person responsible for PMSD? Or for PARC?
They dodge every bullet while wasting time and insulting people.
IP trace in progress…
Monk and Glad’s location will be revealed shortly…. after my smoke break, coffee break and lunch break
Please Stand by…
“Anonymizer” is you friend….LOL…
(Monk…somewhere in the U.A.E)
Hey Glad – More like a union gave its head a shake before hitting the picket lines. The union is aware that the public has had it with Civil Service Unions asking for more and more and more. They knew that another strike (or strike vote for that matter) would end the last bit of goodwill Canadian’s have for the CBC.
Mike
CBC has locked out employees last the two time folks have held up picket signs at the CBC.
Some how us folks working for Canadians seem to wind up with less and less not more and more.
CBC is not part of the civil service.
Happy New Year
Mike
The CBC Union voted to strike prior to the lockout.
1.5% increases is more. Rollbacks would be less and less. Try it some time.
Over $1Billion (yes – BILLION) a year off of the Canadian taxpayers may not be civil service, but it sure ‘aint private like the rest of us.
Bottom line – the Canadian public has just about had it with the CBC elite and their special interest programming. Another trip to the picket line would be the last straw. Even the most militant socialist unionists understand this.