Already tested by major cutbacks which will lead to the elimination of a third of positions, the TVA network could be heading towards a lockout. At least this is “the great concern” of several internal employees as the process of renewing the collective agreement gets under way. The union even walked away from the bargaining table at the start of the week.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), which represents TVA employees, explained that it made this decision after the employer refused to bring to the table the fate of the hundreds of employees who learned last November that they would be fired.
At the same time as negotiating the new collective agreement, CUPE wants to obtain guarantees for those who will leave the company. It also hopes to save some of the 547 abolished positions, among which jobs were eliminated “illegally”, in contravention of the previous collective agreement, according to the union.
However, Quebecor considers that CUPE has not received a mandate to discuss cutbacks and only wishes to sit down with it to negotiate the next agreement.
“ [L’employeur] shows no desire to save the slightest job that it illegally abolished on November 2 and it offers no guarantee for the jobs that remain in the next collective agreement. Of course, the negotiations are not over, they are suspended. It is essential that the employer demonstrates openness on these points,” the union lamented on its Facebook page on Tuesday.
The day before, the TVA employees’ union had been openly criticized on its page by several of its most illustrious members. The main leaders of the network, who are not among the dismissed employees, have in turn accused their union of adding fuel to the fire by no longer sitting at the negotiating table and by persisting in discuss job losses rather than the future collective agreement.
“TVA is not a growing company like Netflix. If you continue to deny reality, you are putting all union members in danger, both those who leave and those who stay,” wrote sports journalist Renaud Lavoie.
“No matter how hard I searched, I found no precedent where the empty chair policy served the best interests of the members who are represented. None,” star presenter Paul Larocque added on Facebook, worrying about a possible labor conflict.
Persistent rumors
In media circles, rumors of a lockout at TVA had already been persistent for several weeks. On Facebook, the union wanted to be reassuring, indicating that the work of the conciliator continues. A new meeting with the employer is still on the schedule for February 7.
But the mandate of the conciliator ends on February 11 in the matter of the TVA employees’ convention in Montreal. Under federal law, the union could go on strike three weeks later, on March 4, which does not appear to be happening at the moment. The employer also obtains the right to initiate a lockout on March 4, a scenario considered much more likely in the current context.
This lockout that many fear would surely be felt on screen, especially in the information sector. Journalists, including the main headliners, are in fact unionized, and could not work during a labor dispute.
Reports filmed in the regions and regional bulletins could still continue to be broadcast, for a while at least. Employees in the regions are in fact governed by a different collective agreement than those in Montreal. They are also in the negotiation period, but the conciliation process has not yet come to an end.
In the event of a labor dispute, LCN could also rebroadcast content from QUB, the cable channel launched by the company just a few weeks ago.
Serious consequences
Since Pierre Karl Péladeau took the reins of the company, Quebecor has experienced several lockouts. The one with Montreal Journal, the longest in the history of the press in the country, lasted more than two years, from 2009 to 2011. Throughout this period, the newspaper continued to be published normally thanks to executives, who signed texts, and at Agence QMI, Quebecor’s press agency which employs non-union journalists. To the great dismay of locked out employees, the tabloid’s circulation increased during the labor dispute, which ultimately resulted in a collective agreement largely favorable to the management side.
Journalist Félix Séguin believes that the outcome of a lockout at TVA would also necessarily be unfavorable for employees. “I think I represent the opinion of the majority of my colleagues in the newsroom if I say that the consequences of a labor dispute would be serious. They would undermine the efforts we are making to save our profession at the moment,” says the host of Iwhich urges the union to return to the negotiating table and find common ground quickly.
In an internal memo sent to employees on Tuesday, Quebecor indicates that certain union demands “take no account of the precarious financial situation of TVA Group and the decline of the media industry.” The company reiterates that the major cuts announced last November are difficult, but necessary.
Quebecor submitted a draft collective agreement in December “which includes substantial modifications” to the organization of work, the company acknowledged. This offer was quickly criticized by the union side, who consider that it respects neither seniority nor the rights of workers.