Ouimet, the manager-blogger, delves into the question on everyone's minds: how much longer? In addition to noting that management has the "upper hand" - a comment that has sparked quite a few (anonymous) comments already - Ouimet makes some other points:
So when they say they have reached agreements on certain issues, like they said on Friday, they are chipping away at the small stuff first, agreeing in principle, and trying to work towards a settlement. ...
The real question is: How long does it take 40 rooms of 24 hotheads to settle 40 arguments? My guess is that it will be at least 2 weeks before we get an idea of when a settlement will come.
Fulford weighs in
I heard last night that Robert Fulford had written a tough-talking column in the National Post's Saturday edition. Finding a copy of the Post in St. John's these days takes some doing; home and office deliveries were cancelled this summer, and only a scarce number of outlets get copies. So, I logged on and bought an electronic edition of Saturday's paper. (It's not available otherwise, unless one of the monitoring sites copies and pastes it.)
Fulford indeed focuses directly on CBC management, especially vis a vis CBC Television:
If only CBC managers had something promising in mind, some grand plan, their desire for more control might well deserve support. Who doesn't like the idea of a lean, supple broadcaster responding quickly to the need for change? But we have no idea what the CBC will do with its new power, assuming the union surrenders.
There are questions the taxpaying employers need to ask. If CBC television didn't already exist, would we invent it? If we did, would we put hockey games on it? Would we have commercials? Instead of dealing with these issues, the CBC remains the only national corporation that refuses to adapt to the environment created by new mass media.
Blogger Justin Beach's most recent post is also about the vision thing.
Maffin on flexibility
Tod Maffin - whom everyone should be reading, because he's on top of almost everything and he's doing CBC Unplugged completely on his own - wrote a post Saturday about flexibility and the creation of the Toronto Unlocked show (with Andy Barrie on CIUT at the University of Toronto - it starts Monday morning) and the forthcoming CBC Unlocked news website, which launches Wednesday). Here are some points:
They are coordinating training for a desktop audio program (one which, for the record, runs circles around Dalet) and nearly 400 people have volunteered to help out on the CBC Unlocked news web site which launches publicly Wednesday.
(Ed. note: Makes me wonder exactly what senior executives worry about when they imply CBC workers aren't as "flexible" as contract employees. For something not even three weeks old, this is beyond flexible.)
Meanwhile, Cindy in Yellowknife has been inspired by the CBC Unlocked developments.
Bits, pieces
Jacques Poitras and colleagues in Fredericton have been keeping a good blog going; a Saturday post included the template-ready reply for people who complain about the lack of original programming.
Alexander King is new to the blogging thing, and has begun posting some images from the line, including this one at right.
Philly Markowitz is finding that running a personal picket line from her home in rural Ontario a bit lonely. Why not stop by; you can find her e-mail address on her profile page.
Navy - er, "Yvan" in Vancouver - writes about his frustration of watching Katrina-wrought desolation in the U.S., and the CBC's near-lack of original coverage.
The mind reels to comprehend the scale of human suffering occuring there. And what's CBC Newsworld, Canada's supposedly "premier" news network, showing? The Antiques Road Show. It's bloody obscene. Is there any sense of decency left in CBC management? I hope so. Mr Rabinovitch, until you end this lock-out, do the right thing. Pull the plug. Turn off the transmitters. Fade to black.
A similar point from "Naked Gord" at CBC Fan: "The CBC's apparent lack of interest in any sort of real news coverage during the lock out is an omen."
An all-music podcast from Vancouver is available. (Warning: it's a big file.)
Lynne in Edmonton laments how four months' work on the CBC's centennial coverage in Alberta appears to have gone down the drain.
And remember ...
Click here to read other lockout-related postings to this blog.
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