TORONTO — The Canadian Media Guild (CMG) has sent a letter to the CBC’s senior management team, urging them to take action to dismantle structural racism in the corporation, according to a blog post Tuesday.
The letter was written by a group of Black, Indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) and allied CBC employees, and signed by 247 current and former CBC employees from across Canada, according to the blog post.
In the letter, the CMG repeats its previous call for temporary employees of the CBC to be converted to full-time staff. In June, the union asked the federal government for funding to convert 50% of temp CBC positions to full-time.
“Those temporary workers are disproportionately young and racialized — in other words, the very people the CBC must retain and promote if it is to reach its stated goals for diversity and inclusion. But far too often, smart, talented employees of colour leave the CBC in disgust and frustration after years spent spinning their wheels, waiting for job security that rarely materializes. Any attempts to eliminate systemic racism within the CBC are doomed to fail without fundamental reforms to the temp system,” reads the CMG letter.
Among the actions to address systemic racism at the CBC put forward by the CMG, the union calls on the public broadcaster to reduce the proportion of the workforce comprised of temporary workers from the current 25% to 10% or less by giving temp workers permanent status.
Other actions proposed by the CMG include establishing an internal ombudsperson to enable employees to make anonymous complaints about racist editorial decisions without fear of reprisal, and ensuring BIPOC employees have decision-making authority at all levels of the CBC, from editorial to management.
To read the full text of the CMG’s letter to CBC senior management, please click here.
