EDMONTON – Members of the Alberta Federation of Labour’s Executive Council will join the picket line outside the CBC television building this afternoon to show support for striking technical, design and maintenance workers.

The AFL Council – which is meeting in Edmonton today and tomorrow – is composed of leaders representing unionized workers in both the public and private sectors. AFL president Audrey Cormack says the Council will be joining the picket line to demonstrate solidarity with the striking workers and to send a message to CBC management.

“These workers have been without a collective agreement since last June,” says Cormack. “We think the time has definitely come for the employer to come back to the table and bargain in good faith. We also think managers should abandon any plans they might have regarding privatization. It just not something that Canadians want for their national broadcaster.”

What: AFL Executive Joins CBC Picket line When: 4:30 p.m., Thursday, February 18, 1999 Where: CBC-TV Building, 8861-75 Street, Edmonton

About 2,000 CBC workers – all members of the Communications, Energy, Workers union (CEP) – initiated legal strike action yesterday to back up demands for better wages and improved job security. Under the expired collective agreement, CBC technicians were making up to 30 per cent less than their counterparts in the private sector. Here in Edmonton, CBC technical staffers make about 15 per cent less than technicians working for CFRN, a privately owned television station.

Spokespeople for the union say that privatization is also a major issue in the dispute. They fear that CBC management has been dragging its heels in negotiations as part of a plan to privatize significant portions of the public broadcaster.

For more information call:

Audery Cormack, President: 483-3021 (work) 499-6530 (cell) 428-9367 (home)