We held face-to-face meetings with management on three of the four scheduled days this week. We spent a lot of time talking about how the company deals with performance feedback, and how we can better solve problems amicably in future. We also raised concerns about how part-time employees are treated, as well as the layoff and recall process. Although we sometimes disagree on our respective approaches to individual issues, our discussions overall remain positive, and we believe that the company has a real will to address some, if not all, issues in a more systematic, timely and thorough manner than has been the case over the past few years.

Pension issues remain a major point of discussion, and a significant area of disagreement between the two sides. We have repeated that CMG members – current staff as well as retirees – base their personal retirement planning on the assurances that they have been provided in terms of their individual pension as well as the Employee Pension Payback program. The company is continuing to push for “relief” in this area, but in our view CMG members have very little to offer. We will keep pushing to ensure that everyone receives what has been previously agreed to.

We have booked dates for the month of February to continue our discussions. As always, we will keep you posted on developments as and when they occur.

Your bargaining committee:

Riaz Ladha
Michel Lamarche
Terry Pedwell, President, CP branch
Keith Maskell, CMG staff representative