The Canadian Media Guild will provide a subsidy to three members to attend the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Journalists, which is taking place May 23 to 25 in Edmonton.

Selected people will be reimbursed for 75% of their travel costs to attend the convention. Winners who live in Edmonton will be reimbursed for 75% of their registration fees. The deadline for submitting your entry is April 17. The winners will be asked to write a brief report for the Guild’s national executive. Members who have received a similar subsidy from the Guild in the past two years are not eligible.

The CBC’s largest union, the Canadian Media Guild, says the CBC is employing “temporary” workers far longer than what it agreed to.

Under the collective agreement, the CBC can hire temporaries to replace absent employees, to use in emergencies or when special circumstances or events warrants. The CMG says it has spent more than a year uncovering abuses of this where use of temporary employees goes well beyond what it says is permitted under the agreement.

“The CMG has allocated an unprecedented amount of money for research and other resources to resolve this grievance,” said CBC branch president Marc-Philippe Laurin. “Beyond helping individual employees fix their job status problems, we realized it was necessary to get to the root of the culture of abuse of temporary employees at CBC.”

Arbitrator Innis Christie has been brought in to mediate the dispute.

The Guild and the CBC held a series of meetings over four months but says the discussions “did not produce a timely path to resolving the dispute.”

The Canadian Media Guild, which represents more than 5,500 CBC employees, is distributing a poster around the Corp giving new CBC employees “tips” on their rights. The text:

• Make sure you’ve been hired properly. If you came on as a temporary employee, find out who you are replacing or what special event or project you’re working on. If you’re not replacing anyone and you’re not working on a special event or project (an ongoing show doesn’t count as a special event or project), get in touch with the Guild right away. If you’re a temporary, make sure you get a letter of engagement that details your start and end dates, how many days you work in a week, your job classification and the rate of pay. If you’re on contract, make sure to get a copy of your contract.
• Make sure that you are scheduled properly. If you have little control over your schedule and have to meet daily deadlines, then you are daily assigned and should claim overtime if you work more than regular hours in the day. If you have to come in on certain days, but can control your hours on those days, you’re probably weekly scheduled and should claim overtime if you work longer than regular hours for the week. To find out the regular hours and rate of pay for your job, go to http://www.cmg.ca/CBCbranchannualsalariesEN.pdf .
• Make sure you get put on the benefits plan if you’re hired for more than 13 weeks. And, if you were hired as a per-occasion temporary (sometimes called “casual”) and you have been working at least 4 days per week for more than 13 weeks, you should also be enrolled in the benefits plan. Benefits kick in for new employees after a 13-week waiting period.
• Ask around for a Guild representative in your area and get a hold of a new member guide; you can find a list of Guild reps in each location at http://www.cmg.ca/cbcbranchcontacts.asp .
• Fill out your union card, with an email address where we can keep in touch with you, and hand it back to a member of your local executive.
• Check the union contract (“collective agreement”) for all the terms of employment at CBC, as negotiated between the Guild and CBC management in 2005. You can find it online at http://www.cmg.ca/CBCbranchcollagreement2004-9-EN.pdf .

If you are in Toronto, the Guild executive holds a brief orientation session for new members on the last Wednesday of every month. Contact Jonathan Spence at jonathan@cmgtoronto.ca if you’d like to attend.

Time’s running out to run in the Canadian Media Guild election. The CMG which represents about 5,500 CBC employees, is still seeking nominations to its CBC branch.

So far, nobody has been nominated in the following positions:

• Director, SRC East
• Director, New Members & Youth
• Director, North

Only two director positions so far are contested:

• Vice-President*: Elaine Janes, John O’Connor
• Director, Prairies: Gaynette Spafford, Kenn Sunley

The following positions only have one person so far running:

• President*: Marc-Philippe Laurin
• Treasurer: Ralph Legare
• Secretary: Barbara Saxberg
• Director, SRC West (including Manitoba): Annick Forest
• Director, Small Locations: Fiona Christensen
• Director, Human Rights: Michael D’Souza
• Director, BC: Hélène Dupré-Espeut
• Director, Ontario: Jeffrey Mitrow
• Director, Temporary Employees: Dave Bartlett
• Director, Education & Mobilization: Kaveri Bittira
• Director, New Media: Joan Ramsay
• Director, Toronto: Carrie-Ann May
• Director, Atlantic: Harry Mesh

If you’re interested in running, click here to download the nomination form. It must be received with original signatures by 5 pm ET tomorrow, October 16.

UPDATED TO CORRECT A MINOR INNACCURACY IN THE NEC DETAILS.

Two years ago today, the CBC and CMG announced they had reached a tentative deal to end the months-long lockout of CMG members.

And now, the CMG is looking for a new team to help lead it through the next round of negotiations.

The Canadian Media Guild, which represents about 5,500 employees at the CBC, is now accepting nominations for all positions on its CBC branch and its National Executive Committee.

These are the positions available on the CBC-branch board:

• President
• Vice-President
• Treasurer
• Secretary
• Director, SRC West (including Manitoba)
• Director, SRC East
• Director, Small Locations
• Director, Human Rights
• Director, New Members & Youth
• Director, BC
• Director, Ontario
• Director, Temporary Employees
• Director, Education & Mobilization
• Director, North
• Director, New Media
• Director, Toronto
• Director, Atlantic
• Director, Prairies

The term of office for NEC and branch execs is three years, i.e. January 2008 to December 2010. The CBC/CMG agreement is set to expire March 31/09.

At the national (NEC) level, the CMG is seeking people to fill the following positions:

These are the available positions on the National Executive Committee:

President
Vice-President
Secretary-Treasurer
Director, Education
Director, New Members
Director, Human Rights & Equity
Director, Small Branches
Director, Francophone Affairs

There are also three trustee positions available. CMG trustees review the union’s spending every year, make recommendations and report back to the membership. Trustees are not members of the national executive and do not attend NEC meetings.If you’re interested in running, click here to download the nomination form. It must be received with original signatures by 5 pm ET on October 16.

Nominations close at 5 pm ET on Tuesday October 16. Elections will be held November 13-15.