There was more bad news at CBC yesterday as management gave notice to 34 CMG members in eight different locations that their jobs are being eliminated. The cuts are primarily in English television. In all, CBC will have cut more than 100 jobs by June 1.
“These cuts indicate the continuing shift away from television production inside CBC,” says Marc-Philippe Laurin, president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild. “Unfortunately, our public broadcaster is once again losing dedicated and talented people, as it has every year for more than two decades. It gets more difficult with every passing year to see how the CBC can fulfill its mandate to the Canadian public.”
Yesterday’s announcement adds to the 64 job cuts for English television announced in February, most of which are in TV design, as well as technical staff in the Toronto Production Centre.
The latest job cuts affect TV production in Halifax, with six positions eliminated, and Winnipeg and Vancouver, each with 2 positions eliminated. In Halifax, five of the jobs being cut are in TV design: a scenic constructor, a fly systems operator, two set decorators and a radio/TV assistant.
Across the country, eight administrative support positions are being eliminated in Communications, and five administrative support positions are being cut in Human Resources in three locations because of the introduction of automated time-cards.
The cancellation of Opening Night is resulting in 3 job losses in Toronto; the end of the long-running Venture program means the loss of a producer position in Ottawa. Winnipeg is losing a producer position with the cancellation of Country Canada, and another producer position has been cut in St. John’s. In addition, two positions are being eliminated in Sales and Marketing in Toronto.
In all, there are 28 permanent positions being cut, as well as four temporary jobs and two contract positions.
The Guild is meeting with the affected employees and will ensure that their rights are respected under the collective agreement. The union will also appear before the Parliamentary Heritage Committee on April 20 to urge Parliament to adopt a strong public mandate for the CBC and to provide increased and stable funding to fulfill that mandate (click here to read CMG’s written brief to the committee).
For more information, please contact the Guild (info@cmg.ca) at 416-591-5333 or 1-800-465-4149.