Negotiations continue in Toronto, with only terse announcements on incremental moves forward. From the CBC's negotiations page overnight:
As we reported this morning, we formally signed off on the language regarding Corporation Policies, agreed to in principle yesterday. Although there was considerable discussion today, we did not sign off on any additional language. Negotiations will resume tomorrow.
As I posted last night, the Guild summed up progress to date in a communique Wednesday.
Conservatives and the CBC, redux
Star national affairs columnist James Travers writes the Conservative Party needs to find better ways to persuade Canadians to give them a mandate in the election. He cites the handling of gas prices and taxes as one issue, and the CBC as another:
Tired thinking and old fears surfaced again when Conservative heritage critic Bev Oda used the CBC lockout to muse about the corporation's value to taxpayers, particularly English-language television. That stirred lingering suspicion that Conservatives, who formally support the CBC, lean to private networks and give too light a weight to the importance of public broadcasting, including its proven influence on industry standards.
There's plenty of room for Conservative thinking on both issues. For starters, they could hammer Liberals for still collecting a surtax to reduce the deficit after years of budget surpluses or for favouring patronage over a CBC board with power to hire and fire its president.
More on Terry Fox
Here is the text of the CBC's news release about the Terry Fox broadcast. As reported Wednesday, the St. John's local of the Canadian Media Guild believes the hiring of an independent company to produce the St. John's segment of a broadcast on Friday consistutes hiring replacement workers, or "scabs," in the phrasing of the Guild local.
The CBC disagrees.
Left to bleed: Zerbisias
My apologies for not posting a link to Antonia Zerbisias' (no-punches-pulled) column from Wednesday on the senior management of the CBC:
Who gave CBC president and CEO Robert Rabinovitch and his appointees, Richard Stursberg, executive vice-president of CBC-TV, and Jane Chalmers, CBC Radio vice-president, the mandate to destroy our national public broadcasting system?
Not Parliament. Not the audience. Not citizens.
Meanwhile, Zerbisias' latest lockout-related blog posting is here.
Also missed
This one slipped by as well: a news release from Tuesday from several groups calling on Prime Minister Paul Martin to "take measures to restore service and stability to our national
public radio and television broadcasting network." It was signed by representatives of such groups as the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, Transport 2000 Canada and Conseil Régional de
l'Environnement.
Lunch times two
My picket duty on Wednesday was at the western entrance to the TV building, just off University Avenue (there's another line at the eastern side, by the university). I came a little early, just before Tony Wakeham dropped off a large box of KFC lunches for the pickets. He had read Karl Wells' article in The Telegram on eating on the picket line, and was prompted to make a very generous donation.
Shortly thereafter, retiree Bruce Bourque brought by a basket of lunch: hot soup, bread and "lassy buns," or molasses-infused buns that are pretty hard to resist. With so much lunch around, Bruce moved on to the next line.
We've all been amazed by the generosity - it comes on a daily basis - from strangers and good friends alike. It really helps to keep the spirits up.
Back in the news
Remember Carole Taylor? The former chair of the CBC board of directors resigned this winter to become a candidate for the British Columbia Liberal party. As provincial finance minister, she brought down the government's latest budget (although the Globe article here mistakenly refers to her as a former president of CBC).
Bits, pieces
The CBC is a big sponsor of community events across the country; in Fredericton, locked-out employees filled the gap for a local jazz and blues festival. Details here on the CMG Fredericton site.
In Winnipeg, they lightened the mood with a day just for wearing CBC T-shirts, reports Locked Out Employee. At right is Ron Friesen, who's been hanging on to this relic since 1978. (In St. John's, arts producer Suzanne Woolridge always wears a shirt like this for remotes - if nothing else, it makes her very easy to spot in a crowd!)
Philly Markowitz writes on the impact of the lockout on her children:
I assure them, over and over, that we'll be just fine, it's only a month without pay, but they're not quite convinced. They're anxious.
This lockout is hurting my kids. If I wasn't angry before, I sure as hell am now.
Globe contributor Bob Weeks has the latest bit on the furore between the CBC and the Canadian Curling Association over this winter's curling coverage.
Brett in Windsor reports on how a "Jill of all trades" has made the move to a competitor, just after winning a substantial backfill at the CBC ... before the lockout started.
Anonymous blogger CBC Drone, who has been calling for a public inquiry into how CBC management has handled public funds, notes he saw Fred Mattocks - coauthor of a notorious internal memo to managers on how to treat picketers - "doing a little reflecting on his own situation."
Cindy in Yellowknife reports on a small battle won with a local manager.
Tessa Sproule is rewriting pop song lyrics to fit the lockout mood.
Blogger Peter Rukavina writes on Tod Maffin, and says the CBC tech columnist has found his mojo.
_I had also mentioned the Fox special / scab labour issue on Saturday here:
http://classicquarters.blogspot.com/2005/09/this-picket-line-has-22-scabs.html
Posted by: Classic | Thursday, September 15, 2005 at 14:15