The board of directors meeting - which concluded without the helping hand the Canadian Media Guild was seeking - is dominating the news. Here's the Canadian Press treatment (via the Globe) of how the board backed management's lockout position. Among the points:
Union president Lise Lareau was disappointed. “It's status quo, I don't see anything that changes,” Ms. Lareau said at the hotel where the board met.
“It's shocking that, after six weeks, you would be happy with just letting it go for as long as it takes to get a deal.”
She suggested the board may be using the locked-out journalists, writers and technicians as pawns in a game to get more funding from the government.
Ian Morrison of Friends of Canadian Broadcasting says the board's decision sends the issue to parliament:
Morrison ... said that until now Mr. Rabinovitch was “wearing personally” the lockout decision. “But with this statement, the board is backing Mr. Rabinovitch and turning their backs on the shareholders, the people of Canada.”
The board issued a statement as a news release Wednesday evening. There are several facets to the statement, which may draw different reactions from different people. Among other things, the statement downplays the overall significance of the permanent-temporary issue:
One of the issues that has attracted most attention, the employment of contract staff, in our view, has been seriously misunderstood and misrepresented. The new contract employees will remain a small fraction of the Corporation's work force, and they will be well paid union members with a superior benefit program.
From CBC On The Line, this report.
Haul Rabinovitch into committee: Liberal MP
Scott Simms, a Liberal who represents the central Newfoundland riding of Bonavista-Gander-Grand Falls-Windsor, wants CBC president Robert Rabinovitch and executive vice-president Richard Stursberg to appear before the parliamentary heritage committee.
Simms is a member of the committee, and told the St. John's Telegram in a story published Wednesday (but not online) that he is fed up with the loss of service.
"This should come to an end. With the workforce itself, there are too many contract employees amd ... it doesn't provide respect for individuals who know their craft. It's time to bring (the executives) in front of the committee."
Simms says the majority of the Atlantic caucus (I'm presuming this is within the Liberal party) have signed a letter sent to Rabinovitch and Stursberg. The letter has not been publicly released.
Lockout economics
CBC Unlocked - the news site operated by volunteers who are all locked-out employees - has a lengthy but worthy take on the economics of the lockout ... not just this lockout, but the NHL dispute last season.
CBCUnlocked has done some calculating of its own. There are no clear answers, but here are some figures to think about:
- The Canadian Media Guild says total wages of the 5,500 locked-out employees come to about $4.8 million a week.
- CBC annual reports show that revenue from advertising and program sales averaged about $5.4 million a week before the hockey lockout.
The article also estimates savings and expenditures related to the lockout, including the costs of flying regional managers to Toronto to keep CBC on the air:
If there are, say, 35 out-of-town managers at the $183 rate, the cost is $6,405 a night. This suggests a total hotel tab exceeding $240,000.
Hockey money
On a related note, the Winnipeg blogger Locked Out Employee recently posted this tidbit, scooped from a Q&A segment in a newsletter distributed to managers (good contacts, that one):
Did you lockout staff to pay for your revenue losses from hockey?
No. Our business plan has accounted for hockey related losses
already. CBC did not want a work stoppage. While a certain amount of money might be saved as a result of a work stoppage, any savings would be more than utilized to bring Canadians back to the CBC after the work stoppage is over. Our goal remains to reach a negotiated collective agreement that balances the needs of our employees, while supporting our goals as the national public broadcaster and a well-managed company. CBC remains fully committed to the bargaining process and to reaching a negotiated settlement.
CP on schedule, Massey rally, heritage committee
John McKay of Canadian Press writes about how the rollout of CBC Television's primetime schedule is off kilter. The U.S. miniseries Into The West, for instance, has been acquired to substitute for other programming.
"It's a replacement schedule," concedes CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald. "It's not going to replace a lot of the things we had planned, like the Trudeau miniseries. I think that just underlines the reason why we need to get back to doing what we normally do."
McKay's article is a melt of developments, including Wednesday night's rally at Massey Hall in Toronto, featuring this quote from former prime minister Joe Clark:
"We need (the CBC) and we are gathered here because the custodians of that institution - on both sides of the dispute - may need reminding how much damage is being done," Clark said.
McKay also quotes Bev Oda, the Conservative Party heritage critic, who intends to bring CBC brass to account for the lockout to the parliamentary heritage committee. He also returns to CBC spokesman MacDonald, who suggests public rallies and such may not only not end the lockout, but prolong it:
"And the more distractions, the more attention paid to those kind of things, you run the risk of only prolonging the time it takes to get a deal."
Meanwhile, here's a separate CP report on the Massey Hall event.
Rogers en route
Shelagh Rogers weighs in on the sound and fury in Toronto, and in Montreal (where the board met).
Meanwhile, the Rogers caravan has posted its schedule, subject to change:
[As some may remember, I had hoped that lockout would be over before Rogers made it this far east. I would be amazed if that's the case now.]
Callwood on lockout
Tod Maffin has this bon mot from author June Callwood, who spoke at Massey Hall:
"CBC managers must receive labour training from Wal-Mart. This is a crime against Canadians. This is our network. We own it."
Meanwhile, from a hotel room in Toronto ...
While everyone talks about bargaining, etc., a little detail about what happened Wednesday, via the CBC's negotiations page:
CBC and CMG continued discussions today on the outstanding issues; however, no additional language has been signed off. Negotiations will continue tomorrow.
When Andy met Susan
On CBC Radio Morning this morning, host Susan Marjetti - a manager in Toronto - recounted running into Andy Barrie Wednesday evening. She said Barrie asked her how she was doing, and she replied, "Andy, I'll be great when everyone is back here."
Still waiting ...
A new blog called CBC Eyeball launched itself on Monday, with a specific mandate:
I've created this blog as a central focal point for CBC staff to document the waste and mismanagement of the crew who are running things at our national broadcaster.
The anonymous blogger said s/he would begin posting later Monday or on Tuesday with case examples; as of this writing, there's still only the introductory remarks.
CBC Drone, which launched with a similar goal, is continuing on, despite a hack he says has likely revealed his identity to others.
Recent Comments