APRIL 23 UPDATE: The CBC has responded to this. See below.

The Canadian Media Guild, which represents about 5,500 workers at the CBC, along with its French union counterpart, say a Quebec judge overstepped her bounds in giving the CBC permission to not act on a resolution from the Consultative Committee on Staff Benefits dealing with a pension surplus.

From the Canadian Media Guild:

In 2000, the CBC Pension Plan reported a surplus of more than $600 million. While some of it, $134 million, was refunded, employees and pensioners passed a motion at the meeting of the Consultative Committee on Staff Benefits (CCSB) directing the CBC to distribute a further $202 million to employees and pensioners. The Corporation refused and the unions filed grievances, claiming that management was obliged to follow the direction of the CCSB in circumstances where there was no additional cost to the Corporation. After nearly a year of hearings, arbitrator Denis Nadeau ruled in the unions’ favour.

CBC applied for judicial review of the decision. More than a year after the completion of the court proceeding, Quebec Superior Court judge Jeannine M. Rousseau overturned the arbitrator’s decision.

In a statement from the CMG, the union says the judge acted outside of her authority. “Labour arbitrators in Canada have broad authority to determine the issues before them,” it said, “And under Canadian law courts must give them a high degree of deference.”

The unions are asking to Quebec Court of Appeal to reinstate arbitrator Nadeau’s decision.

————————-

UPDATE APRIL 23, 2008 – CBC’S RESPONSE:

A few days ago, the Superior Court of Quebec rendered a decision in favour of CBC/Radio-Canada on a matter relating to pension plan surplus management.

In June 2006, a labour arbitrator ruled against CBC/Radio-Canada, finding that it had violated the collective agreement by not following the recommendations of the Consultative Committee on Staff Benefits (CCSB) regarding the distribution of a pension plan surplus in 1999.

CBC/Radio-Canada claimed that given the CCSB’s status as a consultative body, its recommendations regarding distribution of the surplus required the approval of the Board of Directors prior to implementation, which it did not have at the time.

In response to the arbitrator’s ruling, CBC/Radio-Canada filed for judicial review before the Superior Court of Quebec. In her decision, Madame Justice Rousseau upheld CBC/Radio-Canada’s position on the matter, confirming that the Board of Directors must indeed approve the recommendations of the CCSB before they can be acted upon.

	Email This Post
	Labour/CBC Unions