OTTAWA – Apparently going incommunicado can work.
Forced into a media blackout for days by a federal mediator, the CBC and its union, the Canadian Media Guild, emerged from their negotiation cocoon just after midnight ET this morning to announce that it’s time to go back to work.
The CMG and the CBC finally reached a memorandum of settlement after 16 months of negotiations. “The memorandum represents the framework of an agreement that will be formalized over the coming days and submitted to the CMG membership for ratification,” says the joint press release.
"It took hard work and compromise on the part of both parties, but we now have an agreement that serves the interests of public broadcasting and the needs of our members," said Arnold Amber, president CBC Branch Executive Council of the Canadian Media Guild, in the release. "Our members are looking forward to getting back to what they do best, top quality distinctive Canadian programming."
"Canadians want their national public broadcaster back," said Robert Rabinovitch, president and CEO, CBC/Radio-Canada. "The last seven weeks have been difficult for all involved but we now have an agreement that equips us to serve Canadians as a public broadcaster should."
"This is great news for the Canadian people, who have been voicing their concern over the length of this dispute,” said Joe Fontana, Minister of Labour and Housing, who invited the two sides to Ottawa last week and then locked them in a room (figuratively speaking, we think).
The agreement, reached with the assistance of Elizabeth MacPherson and Arnie Powers of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, “addresses the needs and aspirations of employees raised by the CMG while still recognizing the business realities of today’s broadcasting environment and the evolving interests of audiences,” says the statement.
Some initial highlights of the deal, according to the CMG are:
* a strong commitment to permanent staff as the standard for employment at the CBC.
* improved rights for contract and temporary employees.
* wages will increase by 12.6% over the life of the contract to March 31, 2009. There will be full retroactivity for all employees on the payroll prior to the lockout, including contract and temporary employees.
* There will also be a $1000 signing bonus.
* For the first time, members in the Northern Service will get an interpreters’ premium of $800 per year for those who are required to work in more than one language.
The releases gave no specifics on contracting out certain positions, which was the key issue in the lockout.
Regular programming will be back, says the statement, “as soon as possible.”
