CBC, union meet labour minister, continue talks in Ottawa area
The CBC and its largest union have agreed to continue talks to find a solution to their labour dispute after meeting with the federal labour minister.
Joe Fontana urged CBC management and leaders of the broadcaster’s largest union to find a solution to the disruption now in its seventh week.
Fontana told negotiating teams in Gatineau, Que. – just across the Ottawa River from Ottawa – that the “current situation is unacceptable.”
Senior representatives present at the meeting included Arnold Amber, president of the Canada Media Guild branch representing CBC workers and CBC president Robert Rabinovitch.
The Guild represents 5,500 employees – including journalists, technicians and other staff – that the CBC locked out on Aug. 15, after more than a year of negotiations.
Since then, managers have provided reduced coverage on the CBC’s radio, TV and web services. The lockout affects all CBC centres except those in the province of Quebec and Moncton, N.B.
In a communiqu√à Friday, Amber said, “We need some assistance to get the contract done and we need the right people in the room. If the main decision-makers from CBC senior management are there, this thing could be settled within five days after Monday.” Following Monday’s meeting, CBC released a statement that it “welcomes efforts to move negotiations with CMG to a conclusion.”
Fontana commented that “Both parties have demonstrated a willingness to resolve this dispute. They have agreed, at my invitation, to remain in the building and resume negotiations on the remaining issues – I will be meeting jointly with the parties later today to get a status of their talks.”
Mediator Elizabeth MacPherson, the head of the Federal Mediation Conciliation Service, will assist the union and the CBC in their deliberations.
While the talks were going on, about 500 CBC workers from Toronto, Sudbury and Ottawa rallied outside Parliament as MPs returned from summer break.
Categories