Unifor members held a media conference and rally in Ottawa on Tuesday “to call out Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE) for postponing a scheduled hearing before the House of Commons Heritage Committee to answer for the recent termination of 9% of BCE’s workforce,” says a Unifor press release.
But a Bell representative told Cartt that Tuesday’s hearing postponement was requested by the Heritage committee clerk, who confirmed that to be the case.
“The Clerk of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage requested Bell postpone its appearance at committee that was originally scheduled for 19 March,” Bell’s emailed statement says. “We continue to work with the committee to find a mutually agreeable date. We look forward to meeting with them to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing Canada’s broadcasting industry.”
The committee clerk confirmed to Cartt that Tuesday’s postponement of Bell’s appearance was due to a necessary scheduling change because a previous committee meeting suspended on Feb. 27 was resumed on March 19. She also confirmed Bell had previously asked for the rescheduling of the original Feb. 29 meeting.
“The motion adopted by the committee on February 13th to invite Bell executives stated that the meeting should be held no later than March 1st. However, as indicated to the committee on February 15th, Bell was unavailable and proposed instead March 19th or 21st. The meeting was therefore scheduled for March 19th,” committee clerk Geneviève Desjardins told Cartt via email.
“However, since the meeting on February 27th was suspended and resumed on March 19th to continue with debate on a motion that was moved on February 27th, the appearance needed to be rescheduled. We are currently coordinating with Bell to determine a new date.”
Bell executives were scheduled to appear before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage on the date in question to testify about job cuts announced in February that will see 4,800 positions eliminated across the company, including 800 Unifor members in telecom and media.
“Our Bell members are here today while Bell executives continue to play games and delay accountability for firing thousands of workers across Canada while hiking shareholder payouts,” Unifor National President Lana Payne is quoted as saying in the Unifor press release. “Bell Board members and executives may feel the backlash will die down if they hide in the shadows, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Unifor will keep their actions directly in the spotlight.”
Unifor claims this is the second time Bell executives “have begged off scheduled appearances” before the Heritage committee, saying Bell’s originally scheduled appearance on Feb. 29 was postponed until March 19 at the company’s request.
The recent job cuts at Bell follow the elimination of 1,300 jobs in June 2023. In the most recent cuts, CTV News noon and weekend newscasts were eliminated at most CTV stations, and Bell said the network’s investigative series W5 would be discontinued as a standalone documentary series and evolve into a multiplatform investigative reporting unit.
At the Unifor media conference held Tuesday on Parliament Hill, journalist and former W5 host Kevin Newman expressed his concerns about the Bell job cuts.
“By slashing its newsrooms year after year Bell is leading an information retreat among all broadcasters, and creating TV and radio news deserts where there are few, if any, private sector journalists. Canadians are left asking, ‘where do we find the truth now?’” Newman said. “To keep cutting the Bell division devoted to the pursuit of truth amounts to capitulation to those adversaries who are trying to undermine our trust in truth, in one another, and in our peaceful society. This is the time to fortify our information defences, not tear them down.”
Following the media conference, Unifor leadership joined Bell workers to rally and march on Bell’s Ottawa headquarters, as part of the union’s “Shame on Bell” campaign.
Unifor represents more than 19,000 telecommunications workers at BCE and its subsidiaries. The union also represents more than 2,100 members at Bell Media.
Photo of Unifor rally in Ottawa courtesy of Unifor.
