Thursday, Sept. 18, 2003

EDMONTON — Unionized employees of Edmonton’s A-Channel TV station are on strike for a first collective agreement.

The more than 100 members of Local 1900 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP) walked off the job at 2 p.m. Wednesday after more than a year of negotiations for a first contract.

The station continues to operate with strikebreakers doing union members’ jobs.

AUPE is urging its members not to watch the A-Channel until the labour dispute has been resolved with a fair contract for employees in place.

In addition, said AUPE President Dan MacLennan, “we urge our members to call or e-mail the station’s management to tell them that AUPE members strongly support the station’s employees and that they won’t be watching until the dispute is over.”

As well as boycotting A-Channel programming, MacLennan said, members may want to advise companies that continue to advertise with the station that they won’t buy their products until the dispute is over.

Information on the strike can be found on the employees’ Web site — www.cep1900.ca.

The mostly youthful A-Channel employees are poorly paid — the average wage at the station is only $28,000.

The union hopes to see that increased by 12 per cent over the next three years.

The station is owned by Craig Media Inc., which operates A-Channel stations in Edmonton, Calgary and other cities, as well as MTV Canada. The company is set to launch a new station in Toronto Friday.