Toronto, ON, Sept. 28, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- After months of negotiations, TVO Media Education Group (TVO) has presented Canadian Media Guild (CMG) with a final offer in the negotiations for a new collective agreement.
The offer maintains a level of job security for CMG employees that is among the best in the industry, provides increased access to new job opportunities for production staff, and delivers a fair wage increase for all CMG employees. At the same time, it provides TVO with cost certainty, augments the skillset of TVO staff as the organization evolves with the future of digital media, and continues the record of sound management of the public and donor dollars TVO is responsible for.
The final offer, delivered to CMG yesterday, consists of three key elements:
1. A wage increase for all CMG employees of 7.7% over three years, consisting of a 3.0% increase in year one, a 2.75% increase in year two and a 1.75% increase in the final year.
Under the offer, CMG employees in their first five years of employment with TVO (who represent a majority of CMG employees) will continue to be eligible for the annual ‘step’ increases they have been receiving each year since joining TVO. The step increases average approximately 4.3% per year and are in addition to the annual increases noted above.
All wage increases are retroactive to October 28, 2022, the day after the last collective agreement expired. As such, should the offer be ratified, CMG employees will see the full 7.7% increase in their pay as early as October 28, 2024, when the third year of the new agreement begins. This would bring the average CMG salary for employees with more than 5 years of TVO service (not including Agenda host Steve Paikin) to approximately $89,000.
2. An agreement to retain the language currently in the collective agreement regarding contract employees, with no waivers allowing for contract extensions.
TVO had been seeking increased flexibility to extend employment contracts beyond two years. A number of proposals were presented to achieve this flexibility in exchange for various monetary and job security provisions, but CMG was adamant that it would not compromise and TVO has agreed to withdraw its proposals on this issue.
3. A commitment that TVO will provide a training program to help CMG production employees acquire skills that will open up new job opportunities in digital media production.
The training program will provide an opportunity for employees in the ‘Producer/Director 1’ classification to learn the core skillset that would qualify them for employment in the ‘Digital Media Producer 1’ classification.
“We have presented a fair and reasonable offer. 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 Jeffrey Orridge, CEO of TVO. “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.”
CMG, which represents 74 TVO employees with roles including digital learning content producers for TVO Learn, current affair journalists writing for TVO.org, and producers on The Agenda with Steve Paikin, began legal strike action on August 21, 2023.
TVO has an FAQ available to provide answers to common questions and provide additional information around these negotiations.
