Three months after learning that they were among the 547 positions eliminated, TVA employees affected by the layoffs were able to find out on Friday what the official date of their last shift will be. For some, it is the end of the slim hope that remained that their jobs would be saved. For others, it’s almost a relief.
“Since November 2, we knew we were going to lose our job, but we didn’t know when. We were in complete fog. It was very heavy. At least now we know when it’s going to end. It helps us to look forward, to organize the future,” he told Duty a TVA employee, who spoke under the seal of confidentiality.
In a notice sent by email, she learned that she will lose her job next May, three months later than she had anticipated. His colleagues did not all receive the same date. Some layoffs will not take effect until September.
When Pierre Karl Péladeau announced major cuts within the television network at the beginning of November, a first notice was sent to the employees affected by the job cuts. They then learned that they would be informed by February 22 of the next steps, but no departure date was confirmed. A rather unusual way of doing things in the media world, where layoffs usually take effect as soon as they are announced, or at least with two weeks’ notice.
“It was in the order of things that employees were informed of the date of their dismissal. This was a union demand since November 2. THE boss had a duty to notify people,” Ms.e Steve Bargoné of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents TVA employees.
Despite everything, the union still has hope of saving some of the jobs targeted by the cuts. He also considers several job cuts to be illegal under the current collective agreement, in particular because workers cut at TVA must be replaced by employees from other divisions of Quebecor.
The issue of eliminated positions is currently stalling at the negotiating table between the employer and the union, with a view to the next collective agreement. Quebecor refuses to discuss it with the union. CUPE only has the legitimacy to negotiate the next collective agreement for non-laid off employees, judges the company.
To protest, the union left the negotiating table at the start of the week. A decision which fueled fears of lockout among employees, as reported The duty Wednesday.
Pressure on the union
Was the notice to laid-off employees sent Friday to put pressure on the union so that common ground could be found quickly? “The employer dangled severance pay [aux employés licenciés]but he repeated before the conciliator that these offers were conditional on the signing of his draft collective agreement,” the union already indicated in a press release on Tuesday.
By email on Friday, Quebecor confirmed “that it is ready to discuss additional terms and conditions in order to adequately support employees affected by the November 2 announcements.”
If the fate reserved for dismissed employees is becoming clearer, vagueness remains regarding certain retrenchment measures announced in November. For example, we know that the TVA studios in Montreal, at 1600 Maisonneuve, must move to the former premises of the Montreal Journal, at 4545 Frontenac. But three months later, no date has yet been brought forward.
Same thing for the end of local production of regional bulletins. “We will communicate the information in due course,” Quebecor simply indicated on Friday.