Unifor announced last week it has been informed that 49 unionized Bell Media employees have been given notice, as the media company looks to consolidate its various Toronto-based news operations in one location.
According to Unifor, unionized positions in Locals 79-M and 723-M are being impacted by what Bell Media calls the “Willow” plan to relocate its downtown Toronto news stations CP24, BNN and Newstalk 1010 to Agincourt, Ont., where CTV Toronto, CTV News Channel and CTV National News are already located.
“The Bell Media cuts specifically impact production workers, including ENG editors and supervisors, media services coordinators, media services technicians, graphics artists, post sound, AV technicians, and engineering technicians, among others,” says a Unifor press release.
Cartt’s sister publication Broadcast Dialogue has confirmed with Bell Media that 43 technician positions are being eliminated, as part of the ongoing restructuring announced in February by parent company BCE that includes the cutting of 4,800 positions across the telecom and media company.
“This is a corporation that has made billions of profits at the end of last year and they continue to carry on with their profit-over-people principle,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne, in the union’s press release. “This is yet another blow to journalism and democracy and a step towards bigger swaths of news deserts across Canada.”
The February job cuts announced by BCE included 100 media division employees as Bell Media cancelled noon-hour news broadcasts on all CTV stations, except Toronto, and weekend newscasts on all CTV and CTV2 stations, except in Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa, Unifor noted in its release.
The recent Bell cuts are the second major hit to local news in the last month, Unifor said.
On June 12, 35 Unifor members at Global News were laid off as part of restructuring at Corus Entertainment. Thirteen unionized jobs were cut in Calgary, seven in Toronto, eight in Edmonton, three in Lethbridge, three in Ottawa, and one in B.C.
Unifor said these 35 Global TV cuts were on top of 11 Unifor members at the company who were already laid off in 2024.
Unifor represents more than 10,000 media workers in Canada, including 5,000 members in the broadcast and film industries.
