Increase in wages, higher shift premiums part of new deal: Unifor
Workers represented by Unifor at City TV and OMNI Television in Toronto voted 84 per cent to ratify a tentative agreement reached Feb. 8 with Rogers Media.
This new three year agreement covers 288 media workers in Toronto, including camera operators, hosts, reporters, editors, production assistants, writers, switchers and other production crew, said the union.
The union negotiated an increase in wages, which entails a two per cent wage increase retroactive to Nov. 1, 2017, plus 1.75 per cent this year and next and an additional two per cent wage increase in 2020 and in 2021, said Unifor.
“With the state of the media industry in Canada, and recent outsourcing of Chinese language news services, we began bargaining in October expecting a tough fight to protect the rights we have gained over the years,” said Angelo Contarin, bargaining committee chair and president of Unifor, Local 723M.
Other gains made in the agreement include increased compensation for temporary upgrades, night premiums, overnight premiums and improved job security, according to the union.
Rogers Media also agreed to start funding the union's paid education leave program which will be used to train Local 723M stewards and officers.
