Efforts to mediate a dispute between the CBC and the PNA and its Unions over the validity of the Memorandum of Agreement on Pension Surplus Sharing have so far failed to reach a settlement. Nevertheless, the mediators from Canada’s Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services have asked the parties to agree to a suspension of the process in order to reflect on their respective positions. No new further mediation sessions are planned, as the parties are scheduled to take the matter before the appointed arbitrator, retired judge Dennis O’Connor, at the end of February 2022 for a binding decision.
The mediation had been requested by the CBC but the Corporation maintain its position that the deal, negotiated in 2009, has expired, notwithstanding the fact the agreement contains no expiry date and, in fact, calls on the parties to merely “review” the agreement every 10 years. The PNA and Unions challenge that position.