TORONTO – Canadian Media Guild (CMG) members at Ontario public broadcaster TVO walked off the job Monday morning at TVO’s offices at 2180 Yonge St. in Toronto.
This follows CMG’s announcement last week its members at TVO, including journalists, producers and education workers, were in a legal strike position as of Friday, Aug. 18.
“We are deeply saddened to have not been able to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with our employer,” reads a CMG statement released Monday.
TVO released its own statement Monday regarding the strike, saying “TVO has been negotiating with the union for a number of months to reach an agreement that is fair and equitable for our CMG employees, is respectful of the public and donor dollars TVO manages, and ensures that TVO can continue to produce the exceptional content TVO is known for.”
The 74 TVO Media Education Group employees represented by CMG who are striking include producers on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, current affair journalists writing for TVO.org, and digital learning content producers for TVO Learn, according to TVO’s statement.
“While it is unfortunate that we have not yet been able to come to a collective bargaining agreement with our CMG employees, TVO Media Education Group remains committed to continuing discussions with CMG and finding a resolution,” Jeffrey Orridge, CEO of TVO, said in the educational broadcaster’s statement.
“We are ready to meet with CMG at any time and we remain confident that we can bring this to a resolution that works for both parties. We look forward to continuing our work together to bring important current affair journalism and educational content to Ontarians,” he said.
