TORONTO – “If both sides are willing to tackle issues outside the confines of the proposals on the table, there is a chance for agreement.”
That sentence, from today’s lockout update by the Canadian Media Guild, is a head-scratcher. We’re not sure how either side can tackle the issues outside of their own proposals in a negotiation.
Anyway, CMG said that it and the CBC are still in contact but with neither side yet willing to budge, a face-to-face meeting would be pointless, says the union.
It also said that the federal Minister of Labour, Joe Fontana, told them he’s willing to help the parties and is considering the appointment of a special mediator.
“We remain hopeful of a quick resumption of talks. But it’s not as simple as sitting down at a table. Unless we have reason to believe that we have any chance of success at reaching a deal on a new collective agreement, a return to talks would be an exercise in futility and could possibly make a bad situation even worse,” says the union.
The battle is over the CBC’s insistence that it be able to hire more contract workers.
“We have asked for assurance that the Corporation is prepared to move away from its insistence that entire classifications of employees be hired on contract. So far, management has steadfastly refused to provide it. CBC management put 5,500 Guild members out on the street to get its way; only CBC management can alter its demands,” adds the Guild’s statement.
As for the CBC, it too issued a statement today saying no talks are scheduled and confirming that “there are absolutely no preconditions on talks with the CMG.”
As recently as yesterday, said the Corp., “we reiterated this to the CMG and indicated that we are fully prepared to return to the table and negotiate any of the 40 outstanding issues, including the issue of contract staff. We reiterated that we are fully prepared, as we always have been, to continue discussions on this proposal and made plain once again that there is room to negotiate. We very much look forward to continuing discussions on this and the 39 other unresolved issues.”
