Canadian Media Guild (CMG) members at TVO will be in a legal strike position as of this Friday. Union members – including journalists, producers, and education workers – at Ontario’s public broadcaster have been without a contract since October. CMG announced earlier this month that members had returned a strong strike mandate to the bargaining team with 95.8% voting to reject the employer’s latest offer. CMG says it’s been unable to make progress at the bargaining table, primarily due to an Ontario Ministry of Education order to only create temporary contract jobs at the broadcaster, denying workers health benefits, job security, and stability. CMG also says the public broadcaster’s latest offer of 2.75%, 2.5%, and 1.75% increases over three years with a potential 1.75% raise for a fourth year is well below wage improvements workers need during an affordability crisis. Read more here.
Quebecor has reported consolidated financial results for the second quarter of 2023. With its acquisition of Freedom Mobile in early April, Quebecor recorded revenues of $1.40 billion, up $283.3 million (25.4%), adjusted EBITDA of $605.2 million, up $113.8 million (23.2%), and adjusted cash flows from operations of $455.3 million, up $94.3 million (26.1%) compared with the same period of 2022. The Telecommunications segment increased revenues by $288.6 million (31.6%), reflecting, among other things, the contribution of the Freedom acquisition. Following the acquisition, the Telecommunications segment now has 3,610,100 mobile telephony connections and 1,716,800 Internet access customers. TVA Group recorded an $8.7 million (–5.9%) decrease in revenues and negative adjusted EBITDA of $3.8 million, an unfavourable variance of $7.1 million compared with the second quarter of 2022.
