TORONTO – Yesterday it was the Steelworkers, today it’s CUPE throwing its support behind the locked-out CBC employees.
CUPE (the Canadian Union of Public Employees) is Canada’s largest union and they, too, have long opposed the increased use of contract employees.
"CBC management’s decision to lock out its workers is an aggressive and desperate action undertaken to force its outsourcing scheme," said Paul Moist, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), in a release. "This kind of hostility can only weaken the CBC and result in even worse labour-management relations when the dispute is over."
In a letter to CBC president Robert Rabinovitch, Moist told CBC management that CUPE "strongly supports" the demands of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) in its efforts to negotiate a fair contract with the CBC, adds the release. Moist visited picket lines outside the CBC building in Winnipeg this morning, handing out copies of the letter.
"CUPE supports the CBC workers’ demands for the right to real careers at the CBC and for a healthy balance between work and life outside of work," Moist wrote to Rabinovitch. "We also support better training and skills development initiatives as well as fair compensation for the work they do."
The CBC has insisted all along, however, that existing permanent employees will not lose their jobs and that it needs more flexibility in hiring workers who are there for short to medium term projects and shows – and not for a lifetime job.
"I can’t blame CBC workers for rejecting management’s outsourcing proposals," said Moist. "Outsourcing is a form of privatization that will only weaken the CBC. Broadcast quality, morale and Canada’s cultural discourse will all suffer if the plan to outsource succeeds."
Moist pledged the support of Canada’s largest union to the locked-out members of the CMG and urged CUPE locals to respect and actively support CMG picket lines. "A strong public broadcaster can’t be built and maintained by temporary workers," said Moist. "The CBC, if it is to continue working in the public interest, must not weaken the country by forcing the hiring of more contractors."
