Last week, a group of associations and unions representing Canadian media professionals sent a letter to TC Media requesting a meeting to discuss the terms in their new contributors agreement.

The group -- which includes the Canadian Media Guild, CWA/SCA Canada, the Canadian Writers Group, the Canadian Freelance Union, the Professional Writers Association of Canada, the Travel Media Association of Canada and l'Association des journalistes indépendants du Québec (AJIQ) -- asked for an opportunity to "discuss the contract in the interest of coming up with improvements that are workable to both TC Media and freelance contributors." It also requested that the publisher consider suspending use of the new contract until after changes had been made.

Today TC Media declined the group's request.

Keith Maskell of the Canadian Media Guild says the publisher is acting in its own best interests by refusing to meet with freelance organizations.

"It is clearly to the company's advantage to deal with freelancers individually," says Maskell.

"But nothing stops freelancers from naming an agent to deal with those discussions. We'd be happy to hear from any freelancer who would be interested in having an agent talk to the company on their behalf."

You can contact Maskell at keith@cmg.ca for more information.

And you can read TC Media's letter here: