TORONTO – CBC union Canadian Media Guild said today that 350 jobs are to be cut in French and English services outside of Quebec.
Of these, 100 are due to non-renewal of contract employees, 158 are due to layoffs of permanent employees, and 19 are vacant jobs being abolished. In addition, 73 employees are taking retirement incentives.
The cuts look to be smaller than the Corp predicted earlier this year.
“We are losing very experienced people who have devoted years to the CBC and we’re also losing people who were beginning what should have been long and bright careers at the public broadcaster. Viewers, listeners and web surfers will notice their absence as programming is scaled back or cancelled altogether,” said Marc Philippe Laurin, president of the Canadian Media Guild’s CBC branch, in a release.
The union will be meeting this week with the 158 employees slated to receive a notice that their job is being made redundant. Those employees will be involved in a process to find other available work inside the CBC or to bump more junior employees in jobs they are qualified to do.
Actual layoff notices are not expected until summer.
“After the downsizing, we will shift our focus to the survivors who remain in their jobs,” Laurin adds. “The Guild is very concerned that the cuts will lead to increased workloads.
According to the Guild the job cuts are a result of chronic under-funding of CBC and Radio-Canada, which was made worse this year by a sudden drop in advertising revenue due to the economic downturn.
“These cuts are so unnecessary,” said Guild national president Lise Lareau in the release. “Governments around the world are taking concrete steps to help their media organizations and employees during this economic crisis. They recognize that’s the way make sure they survive and thrive in this climate. Our government is doing the opposite, even threatening another cut to CBC/Radio-Canada next year."
