Radio-Canada began its first layoffs this week under the cuts announced last December. By the end of the year, approximately 10% of positions within the state corporation should be eliminated. But there remains uncertainty over how these cuts will be implemented. The union demands more transparency from the public broadcaster.
“The speech we are hearing at the moment is that all departments will have to cut 10% of their workforce. But in certain places, in the regions among others, it is simply impossible to cut 10%. Obviously, management will have to make choices. There are scheduling decisions that will have to be made. We won’t be able to continue to do everything. There are projects that will have to be stopped,” believes the president of the Radio-Canada Workers’ Union, Pierre Tousignant.
For the moment, in fact, we have little information on how the $125 million in cuts planned for the next year will be broken down within the state corporation. On the other hand, we know that 800 positions should be eliminated, of which 200 were already vacant. As many people will lose their jobs at Radio-Canada as at CBC, even if the French service is holding up much better in the current context than its English counterpart.
The ax is also beginning to fall at Radio-Canada, where we learned on Tuesday that 21 positions would be eliminated in the marketing and communications sector, including 6 executives. The institution’s spokesperson, Marc Pichette, announced the next day his departure by the end of March. But his decision has nothing to do with the cuts within his team, the main person said on Friday.
“My departure is in no way linked to the cuts. After 23 years of loyal service for the public broadcaster, I informed my superiors last November of my desire to hang up my skates,” said Marc Pichette, first director of promotion and public relations at Radio-Canada.
Waiting for cuts
The cuts announced Tuesday represent 15% of the workforce in the marketing and communications sector. This is currently the only department where cuts have been confirmed.
Job cuts are expected in the information sector, but no announcements have yet been made. Internally, this wait generates a lot of stress, according to the president of the union, Pierre Tousignant, who urges management to reveal its game plan.
“It’s very opaque. We are not informed of anything. When the cuts of 800 positions were announced in December, we asked management for respect and transparency. At the moment, we have neither one nor the other,” he laments.
The President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada, Catherine Tait, explained last December that she had to make major cutbacks due to the drop in advertising revenue, which all television broadcasters are currently experiencing. She also cited the reduction in public funding, suggesting that the cuts could be less significant than expected if the government’s financial participation was increased.
During its last budget, the Trudeau government asked various federal organizations to reduce their spending by 3%. After Catherine Tait’s announcement in December, Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge suggested that this budgetary effort might not apply to CBC/Radio-Canada. Thus, the number of layoffs could be lower than initially announced. But here again, a vagueness persists.
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2024-01-19 23:11:35
#Layoffs #RadioCanada
