The Fredericton Guild Blog signs off ... for now

With the posting of the Picket Puppets video, the wrap-up of picketing by non-sock Guild members, and today's ratification vote, this blog site will be going into hibernation. Your humble blog editor will not be posting or maintaining this site on a regular basis.

The site will remain up indefinitely, however, and the Guild local may choose to keep it going as another communications options as we move into the post-lockout era.

If you want to copy any pictures, podcasts or other material, please do so now by right-clicking on what you want, and saving it to your hard drive. We will be copying the entire blog onto a CD for the Guild's archiving project, but it will be simpler for individuals who want material to copy it now.

Thanks to all who contributed to this experiment: Curtis for all the photos, Michael Stuart for maintaining the "thanks" page and donating server space, Don Flatt for helping to post the podcasts, George Butters for some server space in the first frantic week, Indy Media for server space, members of the public for posting comments and spurring more discussion, and anyone else who posted or helped and whom I have forgotten to mention.

During the lockout blogging and podcasting have proven themselves to be effective and even exciting new ways of communicating. Let's hope the CBC takes note.
Jacques

The last early shift!

The last morning shift of the CBC 2005 Lock-Out.
L-R Barb, Richard, Lori,Vanessa, Myfawnwy, Terry, and Catherine.

The Picket Puppets

Enjoy the adventures of Larry Lockout, Paul Picket, Lucy Loqout, Vicki Viewer and Counter MacBean (the management puppet). Low Quality Windows Media (.wmv) 4.8mb High Quality Quicktime (.mov) 20.3MB

Final token of appreciation!

Sarah adds a few finishing touches to the sign she created as a thank you to the commuters. They have been exceptional in their positive show of support for us. Thanks again.

One final visit.

Heather Robinson's mother paid us one final visit this afternoon. She is just too cool!

Temps being laid off!

These guys have been told that they are no longer needed, and will be retired as soon as the ratification vote is taken. (more to the story...)

Thank you from all of us!

This is something we have waited 51 days for...the end of the Lockout. Here Terry Seguin, Pat Callighan, and Deb Nobes wave to passing traffic. We all want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all shows of support during this difficult time.
The picket line is to remain in effect until the ratification vote later this week.

Day 51...Celebrating a victory!

Entertainment on the morning shift. The band members are:

Jeannine Gallant (on the trombone)
Matt  Robinson (on trumpet)
Vetch (on guitar)
Mark Winchester on drum set.

"It became a work of art, this labour dispute"

The Guild's CBC branch president Arnold Amber gave an interview to Tod Maffin's CBC Unplugged, following the announcement of the agreement, in which he commented on blogs and other tools that become part of the Guild strategy across the country:

To all our members who throughout this lockout worked so hard to get the public involved, to get politicians involved, to create as well incredible imaginative websites, this is a new modern age labour dispute that our members carried out to the fullest. Many people had a great time on the line and did some of the most imaginative and thoughtful things, and it became a work of art, this labour dispute. I thank that all the people for their support, their activity, and we couldn't have gotten at the table what we did without all that help, so I want to thank all of them.

You can read the full transcript, or listen to the audio, at Tod's site.

Chris Turner: Our Hero

This is Chris Turner, one of our technicians at CBC Fredericton. For the last eighteen months, Chris has sacrificed a great deal of his time and family life to sit on the Guild's national negotiating committee. Chris has worked extremely hard to get us the tentative deal that was struck early this morning. We owe him a huge amount of thanks. Way to go, Chris! Come home soon!

WE HAVE A TENTATIVE AGREEMENT

More details are available at the Guild negotiations web site. We'll have more information soon on when we'll be back on the air.

Thanks to everyone for your support over the last seven weeks! There is a definite feeling within the union that the pressure on federal MPs really helped move things along, so a special thanks to everyone who called or wrote their Members of Parliament.

Keep the pressure on

It's the end of week seven and negotiations are continuing in Ottawa. It's our belief that public pressure is what convinced federal Labour Minister Joe Fontana to summon both sides to Ottawa in the first place. But there is always a risk that talks will derail.Continued public pressure on the government will convince the minister to keep pushing for a deal.

If you care about the CBC and public broadcasting, it's critical that your voice is heard now. Please click here to contact Labour Minister Joe Fontana and tell him to continue his efforts to end the lockout.

This week's FREDERICTON UNLOCKED featuring Shelagh Rogers

This week's show featured Shelagh Rogers as a special guest host. Here's the audio.

N.B. Liberal leader to feds: Push for a deal

New Brunswick Liberal leader Shawn Graham visited the Fredericton picket line today and told locked-out Guild members that he's written a letter to Prime Minister Paul Martin, urging the federal government to push for an end to the lockout.

Excerpts from the letter:

With the lock-out currently in its seventh week, these CBC employees and their families are facing difficult economic times.

Although the CBC is continuing to broadcast, it is not currently fulfilling its role as a public broadcaster. It is important that CMG members return to work as soon as possible to ensure that quality coverage of local, regional and national issues can resume.

I am glad to see that Joe Fontana, your Minister of Labour, has decided to play a positive role in bringing both sides together in this dispute. I would certainly urge you, and your Minister, to use your good offices in bringing the lock-out to an end and ensuring that a fair contract between the CBC and its CMG employees is put in place.

Graham told members today that he has contacts in Fontana's office, and he will use them to make sure the minister keeps the pressure on for a deal.

Graham is the second New Brunswick party leader to visit the picket line in Fredericton. Newly elected NDP leader Allison Brewer visited yesterday. So far, Premier Bernard Lord has not responded to invitations to drop by.

Group picture

Day 45. Warm, sunny, and a behive of activity. Shelagh posed for a group photo with members from the 2-6 p.m. shift and others. Standing, L-R: Mark, Ed (partially hidden), Kevin, Jolene, Curtis, Debbie, Shelagh, Catherine, Lori, Bob, Jennifer, Stéphane, Joe, Jacques, Darryl. Kneeling: Sarah, Sue (Shelagh's producer), Mary-Pat, Don.

Shelagh Rogers visit

Here Shelagh tries to match wits with the all knowledgeable Bob Mersereau.

It was great having her join us on the picket line today. It created a lot of activity on the line with students and listeners dropping by to talk with everyone.

Shelagh Rogers visit

Thom Swift of Hot Toddy told Shelagh that he attributes a lot of the band's success to exposure on CBC, and he said he's worried that the impact of the lockout will have on their new album, "Live at the Blackbox," recorded with another New Brunswick band, Isaac & Blewett. Thom is so grateful for CBC's coverage over the years that he offered to wear a lockout t-shirt during the band's upcoming tour. Here he is checking out the shirt with Shelagh.

Shelagh Rogers Sept 28th

Shelagh met with Thom Swift of the local band "Hot Toddy." Here Jacques is recording a song that Tom sang for us. Jacques also recorded an interview between Shelagh and Thom that will be part of this week's Fredericton Unlocked, 7:30 a.m. Friday on CHSR 97.9 FM.

It was Shelagh Rogers Day today in Fredericton

Shelagh Rogers picketed in Fredericton today. She met many CBC listeners who would like the lockout to end so that she can get back to hosting Sounds Like Canada. Shelagh is keeping a blog of her visits to lines across the country so keep checking there for her account of her visit.

During her day on the Fredericton picket line, Shelagh took questions from a class of journalism students at Fredericton High School, and also interviewed Thom Swift of Hot Toddy about the band's new CD. You'll be able to hear both of those items on this week's Fredericton Unlocked, Friday at 7:30 a.m. on CHSR 97.9 FM.