Notice to Global TV Employees
Notice to Global TV Employees
re: CIRB Hearings
You will have heard by now that the CIRB “common employer ”hearings were adjourned after 2 days in Vancouver. We thought you should know the reasons why.
The application was filed by the CEP in April of 2001. After submissions by both the Employer and the CEP, hearing dates were scheduled for March and April and then, upon the request of CEP counsel, the March dates were adjourned and dates in April and June were set.
The CEP took the position prior to the commencement of the hearings that the Canada Board should follow its usual policy of requiring the employer to lead its evidence first followed by the union. The Board, over the objections of the CEP, directed that the CEP should proceed first on the basis that there was not a lot of dispute over whether the various television stations were under common control and direction.
As a result, the Union made arrangements for 12 witnesses from across the country to attend the hearings in Vancouver that commenced April 8. It became obvious to the union even during the opening statements that there was very little agreement on how Global Television operates and on issues of common control and direction. The Board proceeded to hear from two CEP witnesses from the Maritimes and three matters became apparent.
First, there was almost no agreement on most of the issues around common control and direction. Second, most of the information about how Global said it operated was within the knowledge of the company. And third, that using this procedure was going to be extremely time consuming and the hearing could not possibly finish by the end of the scheduled dates in June and we would be looking at dates in September to finish in any case. (It was taking approximately ˝ day for each witness, we had 12 arranged and some of the ones that were yet to come would be much more lengthy)
As a result, the CEP applied again to the Board to require the employer to proceed first. The Board agreed that was appropriate and imposed some conditions regarding isolating issues. The employer then asked for the matter to be set over to September. The Union opposed this.
The Board did direct the employer to proceed first but set hearing dates of September 16 for two weeks and a further 4 days commencing October 16. While the union did not want to lose the dates in June, in fact the conclusion of the matter should only be delayed by a few weeks.
We know it is frustrating that this matter has been delayed again and hard to understand how it could have happened. We can tell you that the Union continues to be completely committed to this application and very hopeful that by the end of October the hearings will be completed. We know this is a long time to wait but we are hopeful that the result will be worth the wait.
Sincerely,
The Global Advisory Council – (Locals 98 St. John, 918 Dartmouth, 721 Ottawa, 722 Toronto, 821 Winnipeg, 5149 Saskatoon, 88 Calgary, 832 Lethbridge, 1900 Edmonton, 823 Kelowna, 814 Vancouver, & 815 Victoria.)