Management and union were staying away from the bargaining table as a strike at Edmonton’s A-Channel TV station entered its second week.

“At this time, we have a fair and generous offer on the table – and that offer stands,” said A-Channel Edmonton’s general manager Jim Haskins, indicating the company had no plans to resume negotiations at the current time.

Employees went on strike last week in their bid to get a first contract.

The union, which represents about 100
workers, says while it accepted the company’s offer of an 11-per-cent wage increase over three years, the development of a wage grid remains a significant stumbling block.

Dan Riedlhuber, for Business Edge
Two supporters from the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees, left and right, share a laugh with an Edmonton A-Channel worker, centre, in front of a Jasper Avenue sign

Art Simmonds, a national representative for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, said the main issues are wages and job security.

Employees want a guarantee that the company won’t transfer work out of Edmonton.

Haskins declined to comment on the proposed wage increase or the company’s plans to transfer out work, adding he does not want to negotiate through the media. He said the key issues are wages and “jurisdiction.”

“The union wants to dictate to the company what the company can or cannot do in the course of its business practices,” said Haskins. “That’s the jurisdiction, and that’s one of the major areas (in which) we differ.”

A-Channel remains on the air, providing
periodic apologies for any technical difficulties.

“We think there are 15 to 20 inside and a few people have just disappeared,” said Simmonds.

He added the union plans to target advertisers to ask them to suspend their advertising with the station.

“If they don’t do that, obviously we’re going to be showing up on their doorstep, letting their customers know that they are advertising,” Simmonds added.

“And we’re going to do everything we can to choke off their local news coverage. So far, it’s only been a few days, but they’ve got very little local news, basically voiceovers and stock footage.”

However, Haskins painted a different picture. He said 25 per cent of employees have crossed the picket line.

“It is business as usual at A-Channel,” said Haskins.

“All of our programming is running, all of our local programming is running as per schedule, all of our commercials are running. We haven’t really missed a beat.”

Senior union officials met in Saskatoon last weekend to talk about extending the advertiser and rating campaign to sister stations in Calgary, Winnipeg and Toronto. Haskins declined to comment on the union’s boycott efforts.

As they picketed outside the station’s street-level studios on Jasper Avenue last Friday,
striking employees and supporters from several other unions encouraged drivers to honk their horns and disrupt newscasts.

While the CEP says the station’s two sportscasters have joined the strike, news readers are apparently crossing the picket line.

Employees walked out last Wednesday after holding a strike vote the previous evening.

A-Channel Edmonton’s news anchors, reporters, producers, writers and technical workers voted to unionize last July with the CEP.

The CEP represents approximately 18,000 workers in radio, television, newspapers and freelance film/video production across Canada.

A-Channel Edmonton is owned by Calgary-based Craig Media Inc., Canada’s largest private TV broadcasting company.