The TVO Media Education Group has published what it claims to be its “final offer” to the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) more than a month after union members went on strike following lengthy collective bargaining agreement negotiations.
The Ontario public broadcaster published details of the offer on Thursday (Sept. 28), along with a statement from CEO Jeffrey Orridge contending that it is “fair and reasonable.” It was presented to CMG on Wednesday (Sept. 27), according to a news release.
“While it does not provide either party with everything they wanted, I believe it gives both parties what they need to settle this strike,” said Orridge. “Our CMG team does outstanding work, and this offer provides them with compensation, job security and benefits that are among the best in the business. It’s an offer that respects both the professional work they do and our duty as a non-profit social impact agency to be responsible with the funds we manage.”
One critical change from previous offers is a concession from TVO to maintain the language in the current collective agreement regarding contract workers, after having asked for a waiver on a stipulation that temporary workers are required to become permanent employees after two years on contract. CMG previously said it would “never recommend” the waiver to its members, alleging that it would prevent contract workers from becoming permanent employees, losing out on job security, health benefits, and more.
A spokesperson for TVO previously said that it was seeking flexibility to remove the “arbitrary deadline” that “can result in contracts ending when we would have preferred to continue them.” They also said TVO has added 20 new full-time positions to its CMG team in the last year.
The offer also includes an increase in compensation for workers over three years, coming to 3% for the first year, 2.75% in the second and 1.75% for the third – up slightly from the previous offer of 2.5% for the first and second year, and remaining the same for the third year.
The increases would be retroactive to Oct. 28, 2022, the day after the current collective agreement expired.
TVO has also included a commitment to provide a training program for CMG employees to allow workers in the Producer/Director 1 classification to “learn the core skillset” to be qualified for the Digital Media Producer 1 classification.
CMG issued a notice to its members on Friday (Sept. 29) to vote on the offer, setting a deadline of Oct. 1 at noon.
“The CMG TVO Branch Bargaining Team was able to maintain a path to permanent employment for contract workers by successfully fighting back a major concession that would have increased precarious employment for our membership. This has been a major collective effort with members pulling together to fight for a fairer contract,” read the notice.
The guild represents 74 TVO employees, including producers, journalists and education workers, who have been on strike since Aug. 21.
The strike has impacted current affairs programs such as The Agenda with Steve Paikin, but a TVO spokesperson previously stated that it will not impact its kids or documentary programming.
Image courtesy of CMG