TORONTO – After a bit of an outcry, and some complaints on Parliament Hill, the CBC and the Canadian Media Guild announced Wednesday that the company’s design department, originally slated for closure, will be around at least until May of 2007.
"This delay has been implemented, in part, to permit the Guild the opportunity to explore potential alternatives and to conduct a financial feasibility study on a possible employee co-operative or other alternatives to compete for future business at the CBC and other broadcasters," says the Guild. The delay will also apply to the disposal of associated props, sets, costumes and other equipment. The decision will also allow CBC programmers and co-productions to prepare for the coming change.
Seventy-nine people were to be let go.
“In all my years with the Guild and the CBC, I’ve never before seen an agreement like this,” says the Guild’s CBC branch president Arnold Amber. “The delay will benefit everyone. It will give us time to work with design employees on alternatives to keeping the service afloat and it will give CBC shows another year of top-notch design work.”
