TORONTO – United Steelworkers’ national director Ken Neumann said Tuesday that the CBC’s decision to lock out its 5,500 Canadian Media Guild employees is foolish and jeopardizes Canadian cultural sovereignty.
As well, Steelworkers’ Ontario/Atlantic director Wayne Fraser said the CBC’s funding of scab labour should be considered scandalous by the federal government.
"The careers of some of Canada’s most recognizable broadcast personalities are being put on hold and Canadians will soon start to tune out the CBC," said Neumann in the press release. "The CBC is just another run-of-the-mill broadcaster without the creativity of career journalists, producers and broadcasters."
Neumann said the CBC senior management should not try to heal its losses over last year’s cancelled hockey season by demanding that workers abandon their careers in favour of becoming independent contractors with no security.
"These kind of demands are outrageous enough when they arise in the private sector," Neumann continued in the press release. "They are even more outrageous when they are put forward by a public broadcaster, whose mandate is not to make profits, but to provide quality programming that links this vast and diverse country."
Fraser said the CBC’s plans to fund scab labour and compensate managers doing the work of locked out employees should be stopped immediately, continues the statement.
"All Canadians should demand that the government put a stop to the public broadcaster’s spending of taxpayers’ money to bust the union," said Fraser. "Instead of spending my money to take out expensive full-page ads in Canadian newspapers and paying scabs to do the work of legitimate employees, the CBC should be negotiating a fair and decent settlement. If there is a budget for union-busting, Canadians must be told how much and why."
Neumann added the Steelworkers’ legislative office in Ottawa is seeking meetings with Members of Parliament to get their commitment to public reinvestment in the CBC and to end the lockout.
"The CBC is one of Canada’s most important institutions. Parliament must not stand by and let it be mismanaged and cut back to a bare-bones, bottom-line-oriented venture," he said.
"Canadians should not be funding the corporation while its employees are locked out and all we can see and hear are scabs and re-runs. There is already enough made-in-America crap and drivel available through private, for-profit broadcasters. The CBC’s mandate is to benefit Canada and Canadians, not Robert Rabinovitch’s idea of fiscal management."
