MONTREAL — After several months of negotiations, unionized employees of Global Montreal last Thursday night rejected a final offer from Corus Entertainment for the renewal of their collective agreement, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) announced Friday.
With almost 90% of Global Montreal’s CUPE members participating in the electronic vote, 91% of those who voted turned down the offer. Global Montreal’s CUPE members total around 40 employees, who include journalists, video journalists, and technical and support staff. They have been without a collective agreement since August 30, 2019. Negotiations began in early 2020.
According to the news release, the main stumbling block to an agreement is the protection of purchasing power. Benefits and the pension plan are also in dispute.
Corus’s offer in terms of wages, for a period of four years, provided for a lump-sum payment for the first year, followed by annual increases of 1.5% for each of the following three years. According to the CUPE news release, these increases are possibly below the inflation threshold and would have been funded largely by the employees, by agreeing to reductions in the pay structure.
“The employees of Global Montreal are united in their determination, as demonstrated by the result of the vote. Their union negotiating committee has a solid mandate to protect their purchasing power after years of sacrifice. We will remain mobilized, and in the coming days, we will file a request for conciliation with the Federal Ministry of Employment and Social Development,” said Anne Leclair, President of CUPE Local 4502, in the news release.
With nearly 122,000 members in Quebec, CUPE represents almost 7,700 workers in the province’s communications sector. CUPE is the largest affiliate of the Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ).
Corus did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
