And now yet another CBC update ...

You know, I am getting damn tired of this lockout of 5,500 members of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG). Not as tired, mind you, as those poor people walking the picket line. Many of them are good friends, and I know many an affected married couple. From dual income to zero income. That's got to hurt.

Judging by the bitchslapping Noah Richler got on the letters page (sub. req'd) of today's Globe and Mail, all in reaction to his bitter and ill-informed op-ed yesterday, many Canadians are also heartily sick of -- and sickened by -- what is going on. Here's what CBC Radio's Michael Enright wrote:

Toronto -- Noah Richler is an experienced broadcaster and a very good writer. But his artillery barrage against the Canadian Media Guild now locked out of the CBC misfires along several fronts (Burst That Union Bubble — Sept. 14). First, contrary to Mr. Richler's contention, the CMG does represent him and other freelance journalists and performers. It is a cruelty of timing that Mr. Richler's polemic arrived in the very week that union bargainers are looking for improvements in the payment and working conditions of freelancers.

Second, he poisons his own argument in describing his work experience at CBC Radio. Nothing in the current contracting regime prevented Mr. Richler from doing either his weekly media show or his literary atlas series for Ideas. At any given time, the CBC has more contracted performers than any other broadcasting element in the country.

Third, his hoary caricature of a bloated Big Union smothering the creative imaginations of contract employees is as time-worn and discredited as it is inaccurate. That may be the way things play out on Planet Richler; that is not the reality of the CBC.

Finally, it is a bit strange to read of Mr. Richler's shock at discovering that the CMG is acting to protect the economic interests of its members. Hold the back page.

Rather than limit Mr. Richler's force field of creative energy, the presence and participation of committed, talented, full-time radio producers served to enhance it.

Also in the Globe were up close and personal photos of CBC personalities such as As It Happens' Mary Lou Finlay and Washington correspondent Michael Colton. They're part of an ad campaign ''Silenced'' that has been running this week.

Photog Edward Gajdel shot 23 hosts in all, just because he too believes in CBC. But the ads are only 4x4 inches and easy to miss as they are scattered throughout the paper. For some reason, Finlay's face jumped out at me today. The ads are paid for by the Guild, and can be seen here. There's also information for how to help end this destructive dispute.

As for the negotiations, they plod on. Sunday is said to be some sort of make-it-or-break-it day. In other words, if the deadlock is not resolved, the lockout could drag on for months more. According to the Hollywood Reporter's Etan Vessing:

Arnold Amber, president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild, said union and management negotiators have begun bargaining about how many contract workers the CBC can hire, a key sticking point in negotiations so far.

Another five major issues stand in the way of a final agreement: employment status, layoffs, freelance workers, job evaluation and employee pay.

"To an outsider, the list may appear long, but in terms of getting a new contract, the goal line is in sight," Amber said, striking a note of optimism as management and union representatives get set to bargain through the weekend.

If the lockout continues, CBC supporters in Toronto might want to be part of this.

Today's Le Journal de Montréal reported that Governor-General designate Michaëlle Jean won't be crossing any CBC picket lines on her official swearing-in day on Sept 27. (English version here.) Of course, Jean is a former CBCer herself, who was locked out in another labour conflict a couple of years ago.

Jean's spokeswoman, Catherine Gagnaire, said there would be no comment from the Queen's incoming representative.

"I can't imagine even a politician crossing a line (but) we'll see what happens in two weeks," she said. "A lot can happen in two weeks."

Even the Prime Minister and his cabinet now say they won't cross the lines. There's precedent: Pierre Trudeau helped end a wire service guild strike in the 70s when he refused to cross the CP picket line at the National Press Theatre.

CBC outlocks also prevented a privately-owned satellite truck from operating today in St. John's where the network had planned a live show to mark the 25th anniversary of the first Terry Fox run. Says the union:

Had CBC management not imposed the lockout, the commemoration of Terry Fox would have been a multi-faceted production at the CBC, involving many Guild members from coast to coast, including Peter Mansbridge and Ian Hanomansing. The CBC knew full well in the days leading up to August 15 that it had to make alternate arrangements if it wanted to lock out our members while making it possible to honour the legacy of Terry Fox with dignity. It is still possible to offer the program to another network.

The arrangement the CBC made with the “production company” is an offensive use of scab labour. The people involved in this production at every level have made a bad decision.

More than that, the CBC is acting in bad faith in using replacement workers, which is not supported by the Canada Labour Code and, as Minister of Labour, we are appealing to you to prevent a Crown corporation from making a regrettable mistake that will reflect badly on the government, the CBC and the people of Canada.

Apparently, former Sportsnet anchor Jody Vance is caught in the crossfire. More here (scroll down):

Vance is hosting a program on Terry Fox scheduled to be broadcast tomorrow. Vance says she knew the CBC had locked out its employees but claims she did not understand any work she did for the Corporation during the labour dispute would be deemed "struck work."

In response to the dispute over the Fox broadcast, CBC issued this testy news release:

It has become clear that the CMG would require children participating in
the events on Signal Hill to cross a picket line. As a result, in an effort to
ensure that the Terry Fox anniversary events proceed without any disruption, the CBC, Out to See Productions and the Fox family made the difficult decision to cancel coverage from St. John's. The CBC is disappointed that the CMG would resort to using the Terry Fox 25th Anniversary Special, which benefits the Terry Fox Foundation, to make a political point in its labour negotiations with the Corporation.

Oh, I get it. CBC management locks out its employees, implying it doesn't need them, hires scabs and then, when the employees attempt to disprove management's case, management blames the employees.

No wonder the place seems so screwed.

UPPITY DATE:  One final thing from the CMG newsletter (scroll down). Looks like CBC president Robert Rabinovitch could not enjoy his night at the opera, no thanks to some outlocks who happened to be in the audience.

He walked passed me a couple of times, but the third time (during the first intermission), he almost walked into me, so I (re-) introduced myself and two other locked-out employees standing with me, always with the preface "locked out" in front of the job title. He nodded at each introduction and tried to get away, but then one of my colleagues said, "we're really hoping we're going to be able to get back to work as soon as possible," to which he replied, "you tell your representatives to stay at the bargaining table and stop taking such long breaks." While I muttered about that being nonsense, he then made a break for it, saying agitatedly as he left, "Tonight I"m enjoying myself, goodnight." Poor guy. He goes back to his seat and doesn't realize he's sitting behind another CBC colleague, who hears him complaining about being accosted, and boasting about what he said to us about our representatives.

Comments

[Jay Currie]

Seemingly the parts of Canada which cannot be seen from the roof top of the Frum center are surviving the lockout. Here in Victoria, in the weeks since the lockout began, I have not had a single conversation in which the absence of the CBC was mentioned, pro or con, save when I brought up the topic myself.

What this lockout is demonstrating is just how tiny the CBC audience (minus Hockey Night in Canada) actually is.

It is also underscoring the question: is this thing we don't miss worth 1.5 billion a year??

[Antonia Z.]

Jay, Sweetie, Darling ...

If you could actually drag yourself over to the treeware portion of the programme, you would see that you are spouting right-wing bullcrap about the CBC budget.

Specifically:

"Yeah, yeah. Blah blah. A billion taxpayer dollars a year.

But hold on. That billion goes for English and French, TV and radio, the superb news websites, northern services, and more. English-language CBC-TV, which all the conservative ideologues say must go, costs about $300 million-$400 million because it makes a couple of hundred million in ad sales."

Read all about it here:

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1126648215541&call_pageid=970599109774&col=Columnist969907624636&DPL=IvsNDS%2f7ChAX&tacodalogin=yes

[Antonia Z.]

A reader writes ...

I don't recall Trudeau ON our Guild picket line in 1976, but vaguely I seem to remember that faced with the
Guild sisters and brothers and perhaps pangs of conscience, he turned back from a news conference at the National Press Centre in that period.

"Tough call. Do I look like I care? Or do I use this for an excuse not to see the gallery scum?

"Hmmm. I'm out of here."

[Jay Currie]

..

"Yeah, yeah. Blah blah. A billion taxpayer dollars a year.

But hold on. That billion goes for English and French, TV and radio, the superb news websites, northern services, and more. English-language CBC-TV, which all the conservative ideologues say must go, costs about $300 million-$400 million because it makes a couple of hundred million in ad sales.

The ideologues conveniently forget that private broadcasters get all kinds of benefits. Their shows qualify for monies from the taxpayer and cable subscriber-supported Canadian Television Fund.

Plus they reap cable sub fees from must-carry channels. For example, my dial never stops at Sportsnet, The Score or TSN. But I must pay about $50 a year for them so I can get basic cable."

I would be absolutely delighted to see the Canadian Television Fund, Cancon regulation in general, and all cable "must carries" scraped. (You think you have it bad, I have to pay Shaw for basic cable in order to get my internet connection and I don't even own a TV.) I am delighted to see you agreeing with me.

Billion and a half to the CBC if you count the various off the book subsidies, the must carries and so on. Here's an idea - sell the thing. Television, websites, radio, real estate: and sell it to regional groups which would be allowed to bid on various segments. (I suspect the 20 people the FM network would actually need could be financed by PayPal donations if someone was willing to bid for the service.)

Then, if the Government of Canada really thinks it needs to be in the broadcasting business it can buy time on whatever media it wants including the CBC. For a billion and a half a year that would be a lot of time; rather too much actually. So try 75 million a year and send the rest back to the taxpayers who are sick and tired of paying for something they never - or according to the survey you cite, rarely - use.

Hugs!

[wade rowland]

Hi Antonia,

Please accept herewith the thanks of one reader for your column today. It should have been on P1.

some random thoughts...

My experience in senior management at the CBC taught me that it was a deeply dysfunctional organization in terms of union-management relations, and that both sides were only too ready to place their own internal needs ahead of those of the audience.

The essential problem, in my experience, was a child-like, bloody-minded refusal to talk to one another, and to seriously consider one another's ideas. This was true of both sides. The things I heard from senior managers in private meetings would often shock me. And the contempt in which managers were held by employees, especially those in senior production positions, is legendary (though not always entirely deserved).

Now, I gather, management has been even further "privatized" in its attitudes, wanting to treat CBC like any other business--which it clearly is not.

The fact that this lockout has been allowed to stretch on through what will undoubtedly be seen as one of the most important stories of the 21st century and a pivotal point in the history of the United States, forcing viewers and listeners to seek out American sources and commercial sources here in Canada, demonstrates better than any words of mine this unforgivable lack of concern for the CBC audience. It is simply unacceptable that the two sides have not come to some sort of agreement that would allow programming to go ahead in these circumstances.

When this is all over, we need a Parliamentary inquiry into why Canadians were left without their primary source of news and information at so critical a time, and for so long. If, as both sides claim, the future viability of the CBC is at stake, the debate should be taking place in the open. I for one certainly do not accept that my interests can be adequately represented in the private negotiating rooms by ether the union leaders or CBC managers. It has been made amply clear to me that neither has my interests at heart, or they would have resolved this dispute weeks ago and got on with doing their jobs.

On a related theme, and while I have your ear, I think it's high time that the issue of commercial sponsorship on CBC TV was taken up seriously. It seems clear to me that this is the abscess that has been poisoning CBC for decades. I think that the CBC TV broadcast schedule should be cut back as far as is necessary to allow it to produce and broadcast Canadian content in a noon-commercial format. We sould find a way to supplement Parliamentary funding through some sort of foundation drawing down money from commercial broadcasters that get rich rebroadcasting American junk.

It would very difficult for anyone to argue that a commercial-free, truly Canadian CBC TV has no relevance. CBC Radio was cleansed of commercialism in 1975, and look at the results--a superb service by anyone's standards, and an intensely loyal audience. I would venture to say that CBC radio is as important to the Canadian identity as Medicare, blue-helmeted peacekeeprs and hockey.

CBC-TV can never be a true public broadcaster so long as it has to share loyalties between the needs of advertisers and the needs of its audience.

And it will remain an impossible place to manage until it gets those priorities sprted out. The conflict right now demonstrates that perfectly--business/advertsing/efficiency-oriented managers at loggerheads with employees who signed up not to sell refrigerators, but to serve the Canadian public. It's an unbridgeable chasm. If it were truly a public broadcaster, it could be managed as such, with eveybody pursuing the same goals.

Keep up the good work.

regards,
wade

--
Wade Rowland
ph. 905.753.2405 fax 905.753.2777
http://www.waderowland.com
RR1 Port Hope, ON L1A 3V5

[CapitalCat]

As one who covered that Parliamentary opening in 1976, I remember what Pierre Trudeau did and did not do.

He refused to cross the Canadian Press picket line that was in front of the National Press Building. He returned to the Parliament Buildings and met with the Press Gallery mob in the broadcast interview room in the basement. It wasn't a question of dodging the press at all. Remember too that Trudeau was still regarded as a hero in Quebec for his role in the Asbestos strike and that his 1940s allies Jean Marchand and Gerard Pelletier were in cabinet.