OTTAWA – After hearing Labour Minister Joe Fontana label the current CBC labour situation “unacceptable” in a meeting this morning, the CBC and its union, the Canadian Media Guild, stayed on in Hull to keep negotiating.
The Guild’s full negotiating team was at the meeting, as was CBC president Robert Rabinovitch, human resources vice-president George Smith and management’s lead negotiator, Stephen Satchel. The CBC has had about 5,500 employees locked out for seven weeks.
“Bargaining resumed immediately after the meeting with Fontana. Smith has stayed on for the talks but Rabinovitch told Fontana it would be "inappropriate" for the president and CEO of the CBC to participate,” says a union press release.
Mediator Elizabeth MacPherson, the head of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, has also joined the talks. Fontana told the two sides he would meet with them again this afternoon, after Question Period in the House of Commons.
MacPherson has asked the union and the CBC to send out limited information about the talks in order to give the new process a fair chance.
“However, we will provide updates on major developments,” says the CMG.
“Today’s meeting allowed CBC/Radio-Canada to reinforce that the Corporation, like the Minister, Canadians and employees, wants to reach an agreement as quickly as possible and get back to providing Canadians with the kind of programming they expect from their national public broadcaster,” said CBC’s communique.
“CBC/Radio-Canada recognizes the impact that this dispute has had not just on Canadians, who rely on their public broadcaster, but on all of the Corporation’s employees and their families.
“CBC/Radio-Canada’s bargaining team has a clear mandate, as well as the flexibility and authority, to get an agreement with the CMG. The Corporation hopes the Minister’s initiative provides the impetus needed to move toward reaching an agreement that not only reflects the business realities and requirements of the broadcasting world, but at the same time respects the career aspirations of its employees.”
