TVO union workers could be on strike over wages and temporary employment contracts as early as Friday (Aug. 18).

The Canadian Media Guild (CMG), the union that represents about 74 producers, journalists and education workers at the Ontario public broadcaster, announced on Tuesday (Aug. 15) that its members will be in legal strike position at the end of the week. Union members rejected a collective agreement offer earlier this month.

The union has scheduled a rally for Wednesday (Aug. 16) in front of Canada Square in Toronto to support TVO workers, with Ontario Federation of Labour president Patti Coates and EVP Janice Folk Dawson set to attend, according to a news release.

CMG said it has been “unable to make progress at the bargaining table” over two key issues: temporary worker contracts and wage increases.

On that first point, bargaining parties have failed to reach a compromise on a stipulation in the current collective agreement that education workers can become permanent after 24 months of temporary employment

CMG said the Ministry of Education has ordered that the stipulation be waived. The union alleges that a threat was made to cut jobs at TVOKids and flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin after the request was refused during the bargaining process.

The union said it will not agree to the waiver request, arguing that by “keeping workers in precarious contracts, TVO is denying workers health benefits, dismantling job security, and impairing the stability needed to deliver strong public services for all Ontarians.”

A spokesperson for TVO denied the allegation in a statement to Playback Daily, claiming it has been “grossly misrepresented by some on social media.”

“We are simply looking to support our growth through the very standard practice of using contract staff for new and developing initiatives with the intention that, once the value and viability of the project has been established and a decision is made to make it permanent, a number of contract staff can be offered permanent positions,” the spokesperson said in the statement.

“We are seeking flexibility to do this without the arbitrary deadline that currently exists in the collective agreement after which an employment contract must either be ended or made permanent,” the statement continued. “Sometimes these arbitrary deadlines can result in contracts ending when we would have preferred to continue them. We believe that our recent experience, including adding 20 new permanent full-time positions to our CMG team in the past year, demonstrates our intentions in this regard.”

Regarding wage increases, CMG has said that the most recent collective agreement offer included increases of 2.75%, 2.5% and 1.75% over three years, as well as a possible increase of 1.75% in year four. The union argues that these increases fall below the inflation rate, which hit 3.3% in July, according to Statistics Canada.

“Workers feel they are being forced to take job action that will interrupt services the public relies on, such as The Agenda with Steve Paikin, TVO Today’s Ontario-focused journalism, children’s programming, and online courses used by teachers in schools across the province,” wrote CMG in a statement.

When asked for comment on the strike deadline, a spokesperson for TVO referred Playback to an Aug. 2 statement, which said “TVO believes that the best route forward is to continue negotiations toward a fair agreement.”