CMG members vote 100% to ratify deal with Thomson Reuters

CWA Canada members employed by global news and financial information company Thomson Reuters have voted unanimously in favour of ratifying a new contract that includes significant gains in pay and working conditions.

The four-year deal, which runs until 2024, contains total salary increases of 11.5 per cent, as well as important improvements for temporary employees such as sick leave and provisions for conversion to permanent status.

The bargaining team also successfully pushed back against demands for concessions, including efforts to introduce a co-pay model for benefits and a threat to defined benefit pensions.

The 35 staff, who are members of Local 30213 – the Canadian Media Guild (CMG), include reporters, desk editors, translators and multi-media producers, working at offices in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Calgary. The ratification vote took place electronically May 20-24.

Julie Gordon, president of the CMG’s Thomson Reuters branch, said it was a “long and at times difficult bargaining process,” but that, in the end, “we are happy with the salary increases and that we were able to stave off concessions.”

The current Thomson Reuters Defined Benefit plan is preserved, with funding ensured, for existing employees. New employees will join the CAAT Defined Benefit plan, in which other CWA Canada members at different Locals participate.

Other highlights:

• A general wage increase of 3% each year for the first three years, effective April 1, 2021, 2022 and 2023, followed by 2.5% in 2024.
• Numerous gains for temporary employees, including three days of sick leave every six months.
• Strengthened language around temporary employees being converted to full time, including a provision stating all temps must be made permanent after 24 months of service, with probation waived.
• Created language around a fair performance appraisal process, making clear there cannot be a quota system for ratings granted.

The bargaining committee acknowledged the support and mobilization of members in achieving the deal. It also thanked Thomson Reuters management for its help reaching a “win-win solution” and was “glad the positive relationship … remains intact, even after a sometimes challenging negotiation process.”

Gordon noted that the negotiations took place at a time when the company is “doing very well financially.”

Thomson Reuters has more than 25,000 employees in hundreds of locations worldwide. It provides data and information to legal, tax/accounting and news media industries.