About a month ago, four hundred employees who work at the Museum of Civilization and the War Museum in Ottawa went on strike.
Unless you live in Ottawa, you may not be aware of this. But we should be -- because the issues are remarkably similar to those at the centre of the CBC lockout in 2005 and those we continue to fight today.
The Public Service Alliance of Canada which represents the workers, says that only 6 out of 55 museum guides are permanent. Employees go from contract to contract and lose traction in seniority and wage advancement every time they do. Sound familiar?
Online comments to various news sites about the strike indicate that some members of the public may not take the museum workers’ issues seriously because they are seen to be transient – doing this work until they figure out their “real” future.
This is a really dangerous assumption to make, as anyone in our business knows. People in the culture industry are often taken less seriously than other workers because of the “glamorous” perception of this work and the availability of part-time cyclical work that tends to attract students. Of course, these views are exploited by managements who want to pay their workers less. And we’ve got to stop this, wherever and whenever it happens.
Then there’s the big issue of the public funding of our cultural sector. Last year, the Conservative government subjected the Museum of Civilization to the same “strategic review” that the CBC is undergoing this year. The Museum lost $400,000 in that process. The CBC stands to lose about $50 million.
The Museums’ CEO Victor Rabinovitch hasn’t been vocal about this cut – just like his brother, Robert Rabinovitch who as CEO of the CBC refused to ask the federal government for more money for the Corporation.
This is bigger than a single dispute in the nation’s capital. The strike highlights the need to pull all kinds of workers and citizens together to fight for the overall health of our culture industry. In fact, as I write this, I'm at a conference where people are discussing more unity among everyone in the broader knowledge industry -- which includes academics. That means working together to achieve collective agreements that make real careers possible, and proper funding for our cherished institutions so they can survive without undercutting their own employees.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Canwest quietly gets another break
In between meetings this week about Canwest’s bankruptcy protection and how it will affect its various employee groups, imagine my surprise when I found out that none other than Canwest has been granted yet another TV license.
You couldn’t make this stuff up. Check out the CRTC notice of October 14, giving Canwest a license for a new Reality TV channel (I kid you not). What could the CRTC commissioners have been thinking as they considered the application and actually approved it -- just one week after the company announced it’s seeking protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA)? Hasn’t the CRTC learned anything from approving Canwest’s grand plans?
Makes one wonder whether Canwest plans to set up cameras inside its own newsrooms at Global TV to shoot what happens to these folks next? It’ll sure be gripping television to watch the anger of former employees on severance payments whose pay is about to be stopped, shot alongside the executives who’ve been given rich bonuses to stay on. Upstairs, Downstairs meet 30 Rock. Only without the humour.
You couldn’t make this stuff up. Check out the CRTC notice of October 14, giving Canwest a license for a new Reality TV channel (I kid you not). What could the CRTC commissioners have been thinking as they considered the application and actually approved it -- just one week after the company announced it’s seeking protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA)? Hasn’t the CRTC learned anything from approving Canwest’s grand plans?
Makes one wonder whether Canwest plans to set up cameras inside its own newsrooms at Global TV to shoot what happens to these folks next? It’ll sure be gripping television to watch the anger of former employees on severance payments whose pay is about to be stopped, shot alongside the executives who’ve been given rich bonuses to stay on. Upstairs, Downstairs meet 30 Rock. Only without the humour.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
For the price of a cup of coffee
So who's covering the big picture on what's happening with local TV, including the fire sale of a series of small-market TV stations across Canada over the last six months by conglomerates Canwest and CTVglobemedia? Who suggests the shuttering of the Red Deer station, which found no bargain-basement buyer, and the resulting loss of local news in rich Alberta's third largest city, is like Sherbrooke, Quebec, suddenly losing its local news coverage?
Le Devoir. It happens to be one of the only large-city daily newspapers in Canada that is not owned by a media conglomerate.
The "local TV matters" campaign - run by the major networks who have been using their local stations, including the ill-fated one in Red Deer, as bargaining chips to get access to cable fee revenues - is only mentioned toward the end of the article.
Meanwhile, the networks' "campaign" was the story earlier this week in many of the country's major daily newspapers. The ones that are connected through their media conglomerate owners to the those same campaigning networks.
Le Devoir. It happens to be one of the only large-city daily newspapers in Canada that is not owned by a media conglomerate.
The "local TV matters" campaign - run by the major networks who have been using their local stations, including the ill-fated one in Red Deer, as bargaining chips to get access to cable fee revenues - is only mentioned toward the end of the article.
Meanwhile, the networks' "campaign" was the story earlier this week in many of the country's major daily newspapers. The ones that are connected through their media conglomerate owners to the those same campaigning networks.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Celebrating the survival of CHEK in Victoria
A big note of congratulations to employees of CHEK in Victoria for surviving Week One after leading the effort to buy the station and rescue it from closure.
CHEK’s story of survival against all odds is another glaring example of how the media is doing a lousy job of covering its own crisis. And this one needs to be told, because there are lessons in it for many of us.
CHEK is one of five E! stations that Canwest put up for sale in February. By July, Canwest claimed it couldn’t find a buyer and CHEK would go off the air by the end of August.
While Canada’s media owners spent the spring and summer complaining that local news was no longer viable, we know a lot of prospective buyers weren’t listening. They knew they could improve on the E! model for local TV, which we know is deadly. For example, the E! station in Hamilton, CHCH, was charged more than $51M by Canwest for airing a package of mostly American shows. Compare that to the $8M spent on local news and sports. Revenue for 2009 was projected to be $44M. That’s respectable but not if you’re footing the bill for expensive Hollywood stuff. (Those figures were gleaned from Channel Zero’s successful application to the CRTC to buy CHCH.)
You can bet the figures for CHEK were similarly onerous.
Investors who thought they could improve on the model couldn’t get negotiations going with Canwest, and the competing groups of U.S. bondholders that appear to be running it. Things looked like they were going to stall.
So a group of employees dug in and began their rescue. Station manager John Pollard was the first to get the ball rolling and work on an employee purchase. “If he had put the Canwest corporate interest in front of the station’s interest, we would not be here today,” says assignment editor Richard Konwick who’s also president of CEP local 815M. Lesson #1.
“Virtually all” of CHEK’s 45 employees bought shares worth $15K each. CEP put up $105K in interest-free loans which worked out to $3,500 per employee to offset their cost of buying the shares.
Strings were pulled – by local MP Gary Lunn, who happens to be Sports Minister in the Harper cabinet. Levi Sampson, president of the Harmac pulp mill in Nanaimo, which was saved from closing by a similar model, helped rally local investors raise more money. Lesson #2. It's good to have friends in high places.
Many twists and turns later, the deal got done a week ago today. The employee group and local investors raised about $2.5 million to cover the first bit of operating costs and Canwest announced it was selling the station for $2.
The employees make up the 2nd largest single investor group and while the corporate structure of the new station hasn’t been worked out, Konwick says the intent is to have an employee representative on the Board of Directors.
Further, he says the deal would have been impossible if the station had not been unionized, because “you need some kind of structure to be able to pull this off”. Lesson #3.
Who says local news is dead? CHEK is a proof that people in communities know there’s real value in local news – as long as it’s freed from conglomerate structures that make no sense.
CHEK’s story of survival against all odds is another glaring example of how the media is doing a lousy job of covering its own crisis. And this one needs to be told, because there are lessons in it for many of us.
CHEK is one of five E! stations that Canwest put up for sale in February. By July, Canwest claimed it couldn’t find a buyer and CHEK would go off the air by the end of August.
While Canada’s media owners spent the spring and summer complaining that local news was no longer viable, we know a lot of prospective buyers weren’t listening. They knew they could improve on the E! model for local TV, which we know is deadly. For example, the E! station in Hamilton, CHCH, was charged more than $51M by Canwest for airing a package of mostly American shows. Compare that to the $8M spent on local news and sports. Revenue for 2009 was projected to be $44M. That’s respectable but not if you’re footing the bill for expensive Hollywood stuff. (Those figures were gleaned from Channel Zero’s successful application to the CRTC to buy CHCH.)
You can bet the figures for CHEK were similarly onerous.
Investors who thought they could improve on the model couldn’t get negotiations going with Canwest, and the competing groups of U.S. bondholders that appear to be running it. Things looked like they were going to stall.
So a group of employees dug in and began their rescue. Station manager John Pollard was the first to get the ball rolling and work on an employee purchase. “If he had put the Canwest corporate interest in front of the station’s interest, we would not be here today,” says assignment editor Richard Konwick who’s also president of CEP local 815M. Lesson #1.
“Virtually all” of CHEK’s 45 employees bought shares worth $15K each. CEP put up $105K in interest-free loans which worked out to $3,500 per employee to offset their cost of buying the shares.
Strings were pulled – by local MP Gary Lunn, who happens to be Sports Minister in the Harper cabinet. Levi Sampson, president of the Harmac pulp mill in Nanaimo, which was saved from closing by a similar model, helped rally local investors raise more money. Lesson #2. It's good to have friends in high places.
Many twists and turns later, the deal got done a week ago today. The employee group and local investors raised about $2.5 million to cover the first bit of operating costs and Canwest announced it was selling the station for $2.
The employees make up the 2nd largest single investor group and while the corporate structure of the new station hasn’t been worked out, Konwick says the intent is to have an employee representative on the Board of Directors.
Further, he says the deal would have been impossible if the station had not been unionized, because “you need some kind of structure to be able to pull this off”. Lesson #3.
Who says local news is dead? CHEK is a proof that people in communities know there’s real value in local news – as long as it’s freed from conglomerate structures that make no sense.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Hope is still alive for Victoria’s oldest TV station
The group bidding to take over CHEK-TV in Victoria is still negotiating with Canwest to keep the station open. It was slated to be closed last night by the debt-hobbled media conglomerate – along with the Red Deer’s CHCA-TV, which unfortunately did go dark. However, CHEK stayed on the air today and was to take it day by day until a deal can be reached.
CHEK-TV employees and local investors launched a campaign this summer to keep the station on the air, reportedly raising $2.5 million. On the weekend, Canwest turned down an offer from the group, claiming it didn’t want to be on the hook for operating losses until the sale was granted the necessary CRTC approval.
Late Monday, on what they thought was the last newscast, CHEK reported that the deadline had been extended. Canwest reportedly hopes a deal can be made by Friday.
Given the local interest in the station, it would have been an outrage if CHEK had been allowed to close yesterday. We’ll keep our fingers crossed this week for the employees and the local viewers.
Meanwhile, Channel Zero’s purchase of two other Canwest stations – CHCH-TV in Hamilton and CJNT-TV in Montreal – was approved last Friday. The new owners got everything they were looking for from the CRTC: a seven-year licence, no requirements to show Canadian priority programming in prime time and no requirement to spend on tangible benefits from the deal. They will be called to a public hearing in 2012 to review their approach to programming.
CHEK-TV employees and local investors launched a campaign this summer to keep the station on the air, reportedly raising $2.5 million. On the weekend, Canwest turned down an offer from the group, claiming it didn’t want to be on the hook for operating losses until the sale was granted the necessary CRTC approval.
Late Monday, on what they thought was the last newscast, CHEK reported that the deadline had been extended. Canwest reportedly hopes a deal can be made by Friday.
Given the local interest in the station, it would have been an outrage if CHEK had been allowed to close yesterday. We’ll keep our fingers crossed this week for the employees and the local viewers.
Meanwhile, Channel Zero’s purchase of two other Canwest stations – CHCH-TV in Hamilton and CJNT-TV in Montreal – was approved last Friday. The new owners got everything they were looking for from the CRTC: a seven-year licence, no requirements to show Canadian priority programming in prime time and no requirement to spend on tangible benefits from the deal. They will be called to a public hearing in 2012 to review their approach to programming.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
CBC: Layoffs + News Renewal = Upheaval and Resignation
At CBC News, these may look like quiet summer days…but they are days of complete upheaval. As if the layoffs weren’t bad enough to implement, there’s the process known as News Renewal, a massive reorganization of how the work gets done, and who does what.
For dozens of people, both behind-the-scenes and on-air, News Renewal means being reassigned – sometimes to a job that seems reasonable and interesting, and other times, to a job that’s not any of those things. Sometimes by nice conversation and other times, through curt and dismissive meetings. It’s disorienting for many people to be told that their views of what constitutes career progression are an illusion.
News Renewal is supposed to be in the name of making CBC News truly 24/7 on television, radio and online, national and local. I think most people understand and laud that intent. But then it collided head-on with the financial shortfall and the layoffs, which, among other things, led to greater uncertainty and varying degrees of pressure on senior employees to take voluntary retirement packages or simply resign.
The result: a feeling of deep hurt and resentment by those who weren’t quite ready to go, those who dared ask questions about the “multi-platform” 24/7 universe. They weren’t "laid off", but found they had no choice. They are people who gave years of valuable service, but who couldn’t relate to what they were now being asked to do.
How they feel is well expressed in a goodbye note from Dave Anderson of CBC Radio – which is contained in Jeffrey Dvorkin’s blog. Dvorkin is the former chief journalist at CBC radio and now distinguished visiting professior at Ryerson University.
What about the loss of all this talent? How do we address that? Who’s taking stock of who’s gone, beyond name and position? One way is a new section of the Guild’s web site – where we’re asking for people laid off this year to post their profiles so we know more about those losing their jobs. I’ll write more about this project later. But it’s only a small way to start documenting all this.
In the meantime, there’s a lot of hurt, a lot of disillusionment and a lot of anger.
For dozens of people, both behind-the-scenes and on-air, News Renewal means being reassigned – sometimes to a job that seems reasonable and interesting, and other times, to a job that’s not any of those things. Sometimes by nice conversation and other times, through curt and dismissive meetings. It’s disorienting for many people to be told that their views of what constitutes career progression are an illusion.
News Renewal is supposed to be in the name of making CBC News truly 24/7 on television, radio and online, national and local. I think most people understand and laud that intent. But then it collided head-on with the financial shortfall and the layoffs, which, among other things, led to greater uncertainty and varying degrees of pressure on senior employees to take voluntary retirement packages or simply resign.
The result: a feeling of deep hurt and resentment by those who weren’t quite ready to go, those who dared ask questions about the “multi-platform” 24/7 universe. They weren’t "laid off", but found they had no choice. They are people who gave years of valuable service, but who couldn’t relate to what they were now being asked to do.
How they feel is well expressed in a goodbye note from Dave Anderson of CBC Radio – which is contained in Jeffrey Dvorkin’s blog. Dvorkin is the former chief journalist at CBC radio and now distinguished visiting professior at Ryerson University.
What about the loss of all this talent? How do we address that? Who’s taking stock of who’s gone, beyond name and position? One way is a new section of the Guild’s web site – where we’re asking for people laid off this year to post their profiles so we know more about those losing their jobs. I’ll write more about this project later. But it’s only a small way to start documenting all this.
In the meantime, there’s a lot of hurt, a lot of disillusionment and a lot of anger.
Friday, July 31, 2009
CBC local news: good idea, bad time
Check out this very interesting insider blog post about the CBC-TV schedule changes that are going to affect local news, and the "logic" behind them.
In case you haven't heard, local evening TV news is growing from 60 to 90 minutes. But there's a hitch. It'll start at 5 pm and be over by 6:30 pm to make way for the blockbuster lineup of Coronation Street, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, a detail that was buried in the announcement touting the change.
Good on Howard Bernstein, a former Executive Producer of the Toronto CBC local TV news show in the 1980s, when local news was a serious commitment, for providing another forum for discussions like this.
Please feel free to submit comments or guest blogs here (anonymous or otherwise) about the changes coming to CBC and other media this fall.
In case you haven't heard, local evening TV news is growing from 60 to 90 minutes. But there's a hitch. It'll start at 5 pm and be over by 6:30 pm to make way for the blockbuster lineup of Coronation Street, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, a detail that was buried in the announcement touting the change.
Good on Howard Bernstein, a former Executive Producer of the Toronto CBC local TV news show in the 1980s, when local news was a serious commitment, for providing another forum for discussions like this.
Please feel free to submit comments or guest blogs here (anonymous or otherwise) about the changes coming to CBC and other media this fall.
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