CBC management has responded to a Canadian Media Guild statement accusing the Corporation of leaving too many people in “temporary” positions, when they should have been hired as permanent staff.

The CBC, no surprise, denies the charge. Further, it says the CMG “abandoned several months of good faith problem-solving discussions where substantial information was shared in favour of commencing this arbitration.”

The CBC-CMG collective agreement negotiated in 2005 after a prolonged and bitter lockout, gives the CBC greater flexibility in being able to hire contract and temporary employees and freelancers.

• Restrictions regarding who, what, where, when, why, and how CBC engaged contract employees were eliminated. The only restriction on the use of contract employees was a numeric cap: 9.5% plus 80 positions of the permanent workforce (or about 11.5%).
• For temporary employees, the reasons for which CBC can engage temporary employees were expanded. There is no numeric restriction for temps, rather there are reasons that must be followed in order to engage temporary employees.

The CBC says the Guild insists that temporary staff can only be used for backfill and special events or projects. CBC management says the reasons it can hire temps are much broader than that.

The Corporation says the use of temporary employees (engaged in excess of thirteen weeks) is at a historical low at CBC. In 1994, it was 11% of its permanent workforce. Today, the CBC says it is at about 6%. Further, it says use of short term temporary employees is pretty much the same as it was before the 2005 collective agreement was negotiated.

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.