The CBC station in Windsor has been presented the president’s award for coping through layoffs while managing to integrate their newsroom.

The newsroom merged their radio, television and online resources into a single unit last year, despite losing several positions. The president’s awards are meant to honour innovation and accomplishment across the CBC.

CBC President Hubert Lacroix visited the station yesterday to present the award. He said the station’s adaptability was “the only way to survive.”

When you take out nine total positions in reporting, if you want to continue giving to Windsor a window and a mirror of what it’s all about, you need to cover the community and you need to be in the community and the only way to do this was to merge the teams.

There’s more on Lacroix’s visit here.

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	Integration, Layoffs	Posted at 6:33 am (10 Jun 2010)

CBC President Hubert Lacroix sat down with Allison Saunders this morning to discuss the impact of the layoffs. Below is a transcript of the interview.

Saunders: It’s been a tough couple of weeks, can you give me a sense of where we’re at?

Lacroix: It’s been really tough at CBC/Radio Canada. We all realize that, me the first.

First off, let’s talk about the redundancy notices. They have been given out… the famous pink slips. I was listening George Stroumboulopoulos who was interviewing our minister on his show a couple weeks ago, and I think he was interviewing him on the day where notices went out. Interesting coincidence.

So 250 notices went out. About 170 in English and 60 in the French network and about 20 across the other corporate components. That’s going to start the bumping process under the collective agreements. We figure it’ll take the whole summer to go through the bumping process and by the end of September we’ll have seen all the departures.

Saunders: In March there was talk about doing everything we could to reduce the number of involuntary departures. What have we managed to accomplish on that front?

Lacroix: Well, we were happy, in some ways, if you could say we were happy about introducing voluntary retirement incentive programs, but we did that. And through the leadership of Katya Laviolette and her team and people in culture there was about 300 people or so that we were able to see the requests met.

Add to that our year-end numbers, March 31 2009, which were a bit better than expected by a couple million bucks. That allowed us to reduce some of the cuts that we had planned, particularly in the regions, so we saved a few jobs there.

We continue to work with the unions, and with the work that we’re doing in reducing our expenses, because I really believe that every job counts, and as I’ve told the world since I walked in here, my first “p” of my three priorities is people, and we are trying to look at every single job and keep it inside our company instead of trying to eliminate it.

Saunders: Obviously it’s been an emotional time for all of our employees. Can you give me sense of how you are feeling about all of this?

Lacroix: I’ve been tough, I know that. You were saying a few seconds ago that this weekend you had to say goodbye to five or six people that you had been working with for 10 years at CBC-Radio canada. A lot of that. A lot of that is happening on each one floors that I walk around on.

So yes, it is difficult. It’s difficult for the people that leave, because I think it’s a great place to work at CBC/Radio Canada. We are a great institution.

It’s difficult for the people that stay on, because they see their friends leave and they also are concerned about the kind of work and stuff they have to do to compensate for these departures.

But that’s where we are right now. The people that stay here, we have all sorts of support that we’ll put in place for them. Whether it’s career counselling or programs of that kind.

I’m looking forward to stop being a number number-cruncher and spreadsheet person because I’ve been doing this non-stop for six months now. So I’m looking to September or maybe end of summer to start visiting the centres again.

I look forward to sitting down with our people, and listening to how they’re dealing with this and wether they have some things to say to me. But in the meantime, as I’ve been finishing my notes with, we have to hang tough. We will survive this and you’ll see CBC Radio Canada will be very strong when we finish this exercise.

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	Executives, Layoffs	Posted at 5:31 pm (08 Jun 2009)

When the pink slips started flying this week, the impact spanned the country. Several well known CBC on-air personalities are leaving, either as a result of voluntary retirement or layoffs. Some of the staff that have opted to retire include Brian Stewart, Don Newman, Steve Finkelman, John McGrath, Jeff Collins, Claire Nantes, Jim Nunn, Mark Bulgutch and many others.

Both Brian Stewart and Don Newman have already stated that they are retiring. Click the links for a full article.

The cost-cutting measures will apparent on-air as soon as this weekend when CBC News: Sunday’s morning edition airs it’s last program after eight seasons. The show fell victim to the CBC News renewal process, under which The National will replace Sunday and air seven nights a week beginning this fall.

And it’s not over yet. To this point 158 redundancy notices have gone out, with 73 employees taking the retirement package, leaving 100 employees who will not have their contracts renewed.

Here’s the breakdown of the cuts across the country, according to the Canadian Media Guild. Note that these numbers aren’t verified, and they don’t align with media reports from across the country. I’ve added links to local media stories where available:

• Calgary,18.
• Charlottetown, 6.
• Corner Brook, NL, 3.
• Edmonton, 16.
• Fredericton, 3.
• Gander, NL, 2.
• Grand Falls, NL, 2.
• Halifax, 12.
• Ottawa, 9.
• Rankin Inlet, 1.
• Regina, 3.
• Saint John, NB, 2.
• Saskatoon, 2.
• St. John’s, 6.
• Sudbury, Ont., 8.
• Sydney, N.S., 3.
• Thunder Bay, Ont., 5.
• Toronto, 155.
• Vancouver, 45.
• Whitehorse, 3.
• Windsor, Ont., 13.
• Winnipeg, 9.
• Yellowknife, 8

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	Layoffs	Posted at 8:31 am (29 May 2009)

With the pink slips flying around the CBC this week, I’ve copied a note from the union, in case you didn’t receive it by email:

Today, CBC managers are beginning to hand out notices to employees whose jobs are being made redundant. If you receive a notice, you will be given time to meet with union representatives to begin to discuss the next steps.

Remember that a redundancy notice is *not* a layoff notice. You are not being told to leave your job or to leave the building. The process now begins to find you suitable work in a vacancy somewhere else at CBC or to examine the possibility of bumping a more junior employee in a job for which you are qualified. You will be given some time and some pointers to put together a list of your skills and job experiences.

Please click here for more information about the process.

Remember to check your seniority date at HR @ myfingertips. If you think it is wrong, get in touch with human resources as soon as possible with the details.

If you have any questions or concerns, talk to one of the Guild representatives in your workplace who have been trained to work through this difficult downsizing process. You are not alone. You can also write to info@cmg.ca .

In the meantime, the Guild is continuing to work hard to reverse the cuts, both through the Canadian public and decision-makers in Ottawa and through measures that Guild members can take together.

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	Layoffs	Posted at 1:25 pm (27 May 2009)

The long-announced layoffs have finally begun.

Some members of the news department were being told informally about their fate late last week. Now formal layoff notices are being sent out this Wednesday and Thursday.

On the bright side, the total number of layoffs is a bit smaller than expected. CBC managers originally expected to have to cut 393 jobs on the English side. But with around 100 people having applied for the retirement package, only about 180 workers are facing losing their jobs at this time.

This is going to be a depressing week.

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	Behind the Scenes, Layoffs	Posted at 12:25 pm (25 May 2009)

The campaign to reverse the cutbacks at the CBC’s Northern Ontario services continues to bubble away.

Last night the Sault Ste. Marie local city council endorsed a campaign called Save Our CBC North.

The campaign is gathering petitions on a web site which states “We need oppose CBC Radio Canada’s action to significantly erode this important communications link in our region.”

And they’ve got this cool retro mash-up poster.

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 4:23 pm (12 May 2009)

Despite the growth of handheld video devices and TV shows on the internet, people still spend more than 9 out of 10 hours watching TV the old-fashioned way, on regular sets.

According to a survey from CBC’s research department, people spent 97 per cent of their time watching programming on regular TV sets, or with PVR’s, DVD’s or video on demand. Only two per cent of the total watching time was committed to watching television online.

The results seem to indicate that although Canadians spend a lot of time surfing online, they are not yet spending much of that time watching television shows. The average Anglophone Canadian now spends just shy of 14 hours a week online, compared to 15 hours a week watching TV.

Of the video content that is being watched online, amateur video is still the most popular, but it’s not growing in popularity. On the flip side watching professionally produced television online is growing quickly. More than one quarter of Anglophone internet users said spent time watching online TV in the last month, an increase  of 50% since last year.

And what are they watching? News. Of all the types of online TV content, news clips or newscasts are the most popular by a mile – 73 per cent of respondents said they had watched news clips or shows in the last month, sports came in a distant second at 46 per cent.

The survey results are based on 6,000 telephone interviews with Anglophone adults residing in all regions of Canada. The interviews were conducted from October 20, 2008 to December 21, 2008 and are considered accurate within plus or minus 1.3 percentage points 19 times out of 20. For more information on the survery contact the CBC/Radio-Canada Research and Strategic Analysis department.

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	Integration, Interactive TV, Programming	Posted at 12:21 pm (30 Apr 2009)

North Bay City Council passed a motion yesterday opposing cuts to staff in Northern Ontario. ”The loss of our local media affects how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived to the world,” the motion stated.

This is the fourth motion that has been passed by local Northern Ontario city councils opposing CBC cuts. Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins and Iroquois Falls have also passed similar motions which they intend to forward to federal and provincial politicians and CBC executives. CBC stations in both Thunder Bay and Sudbury face losing half their staff to layoffs. The job cuts that have prompted demonstrations in both communities. 

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 9:01 am (15 Apr 2009)

A group of concerned citizens are holding a ‘Save the CBC’ rally in Calgary this Friday.  The Facebook page for the event says “In 2009 CBC announced because of declining advertising revenues, and after being turned down by their sole shareholder – the Canadian government – for a short term loan, they would be shedding 800 jobs across the country, in all divisions. But where were the rallies?”

Turns out this is actually the fourth rally in the last couple weeks, following rallies in Sudbury, Thunder Bay and Sydney.

The cuts in Calgary will be felt more acutely since Newsworld cut back on the local presence there last year. “We’ve already been cut to the bone. We’ve already tightened our belt…. We’re very lean, and we provide a whole lot of content with actually not that many people,” CBC reporter Carolyn Dunn said.

The rally will be held on April 17th outside of the CBC Calgary office on Westmount Boulevard.

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	Fanatical Fans, Layoffs	Posted at 11:28 am (14 Apr 2009)

A rally is planned for noon today to protest cuts at the CBC’s Sydney, Nova Scotia bureau. 

About 15 staff work at the bureau, as many as eight of them are facing layoffs.

The rally is being organized by a group called ‘Friends of CBC Cape Breton.’ It follows a similar rally held in Sudbury over the weekend (pictured above). The Sudbury rally was attended by more than 100 people, including local MP’s, musicians, and CMG President Lise Lareau.

There’s more information on the Cape Breton rally here.

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 7:33 am (08 Apr 2009)

CBC Vice-President of Enlgish Services Richard Stursberg was on Maritime Noon Friday talking about the CBC’s financial situation and it’s viability in the face of the layoffs. 

I didn’t have time to tune in myself, but if anyone did, leave a comment below with what he said.

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	Executives, Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 11:31 am (03 Apr 2009)

Conway Fraser, a CBC Radio producer, warns that news coverage in the Sudbury area will be seriously affected by the layoffs.

Fraser and his colleagues protested the cuts on Friday in front of the CBC’s local office.

Fully half of the Sudbury staff are facing layoffs. The final decision on how deep the cuts will be won’t be made until the retirement incentive package runs its course. 

Fraser told the Northern News “he felt as if he had been punched in the stomach,” when he heard about the cuts.

“We kind of thought our share would be a position or two based on the proportion,” he said.

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	Layoffs, North	Posted at 7:38 am (31 Mar 2009)

Richard Stursberg, vice-president of CBC English Services, started the town hall meeting on a bitter-sweet note saying “all the work we’ve been doing is actually working.”

“Things are working very well for us. Radio’s share is at an all-time high. Television is doing very well… cbc.ca’s growth is accelerating,” he said.

Nevertheless “we are going to take 400 jobs out of English Services, that’s approximately 10 per cent,” of the workforce he said. Most departments at the CBC, with the exception of CBC.ca, are seeing cuts of some sort.

Stursberg explained the strategy behind the cuts is to try to maintain our success and to avoid “making the future hostage to the present difficulties,” he said.

Specifically some the cuts are:

-On CBC Radio Inside Track, Outfront, The Point, In the Key of Charles and the weekend edition of The Signal are to be cancelled;
-There will be attempts to consolidate parts of Radio 3;
-Smaller regional stations will see cuts that vary;
-The daytime Living programs will be cancelled;
-The one-off TV shows like ‘Test the Nation’ won’t be produced;
-The Border, Being Erica, Little Mosque on the Prairie will have fewer episodes;
-Digital Extensions of some shows will be reduced;
-About 80 jobs will be cut from news, the specific cuts are not finalized;
-The Fifth Estate and Marketplace will face budget reductions;
-Media sales and marketing will see about 22 jobs cut;
-Closure of one-person bureaus in La Ronge, SK, and Thompson, MB;
-Reduced staffing in: Windsor, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Quebec City, Moncton, Saint John, Sydney, Corner Brook, Labrador, Gander and Grand Falls, NL;
-Reduction or elimination of some sports programming;
-Communications, management, and a number of other department will also see some cuts.

“This is a really horrid situation.” Stursberg said. “It’s a very big cut… I don’t think we can underestimate the severity of what is happening.”

The question and answer period after the announcements sometimes became heated as Stursberg took off his jacket and defended a number of questions about further cuts to the Fifth Estate and Marketplace. 

Others implored CBC employees to maintain solidarity, the situation forces us to ask “what are we all prepared to do?” one employee asked.

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 2:10 pm (26 Mar 2009)

CBC executives updated staff this morning about the state of CBC finances, announcing 800 layoffs.

“I wish I could be standing here in better circumstances,” CBC President Hubert Lacroix said, but “these are tough times for the public broadcaster.” He said, “we need $171 million to balance our budget, which will mean 800 positions.”

The plan is to raise about $125 million through the sale of assets he said. It’s based on the assumption that the government will allow the CBC to keep the proceeds of those sales. But even with those sales, balancing the books “still results in 800 positions,” Lacroix said.

Lacroix also said that the most senior managers would see a minimum 20 per cent reduction in take home pay, through bonus cutbacks, and the corporate level will face a five per cent cut across the board.

The layoffs would start over the summer months, and finish by the beginning of September.

Richard Strusberg, Vice-President of English Services, said “We’re going to have to cut as many as 400 people,” in English Services. He said he wants to maintain Radio One’s and Radio Two’s share without introducing advertising on radio. He also doesn’t want to lose the gains made in English Television or online. Another 363 cuts will come on the French side, and 70 corporate service positions.

But English television will feel the cuts slightly more than English radio, however “the beef of the schedule remains largely intact,” he said.  “About 20 per cent” of the cuts will fall on the regions Stursberg added. The rest will come from the network.

Canadian Media Guild’s president Lise Lareau blamed the layoffs on the federal government. “At a time when Ottawa is supposed to be providing stimulus to the Canadian economy and ensuring that people maintain employment, cutting 800 jobs is the wrong approach to take.”

Tomorrow all of the managers will meet with the areas that are effected, “but it will be impossible to say exactly who will go and who will stay,” Stursberg said because of the uncertainty about the voluntary retirement package and how many people might take them.

Another town hall for English services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m.

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	Layoffs, The Media Landscape	Posted at 10:36 am (25 Mar 2009)

After a two-day meeting the CBC’s board of directors approved a budget that includes deep cuts in an attempt to grapple with a $200 million shortfall.

There were no further details about the size of the cutbacks. 

CBC President Hubert Lacroix said last month that the current shortfall could be as high as $145 million. Add to that another $60 million in annual funding from the federal government that was not in this year’s budget, and the shortfall ends up being over $200 million. That shortfall is more than 10 per cent of the entire CBC budget, and would represent significant cutbacks. 

Heritage Minister James Moore gave an interview to CBC Radio yesterday. He the CBC has some “difficult decisions to make in the near future.”

He also said when Canadians “turn on the CBC they expect to see Canadian drama, Canadian arts, Canadian kids programming, Canadian news and Canadian content, not American game shows.”

Moore also said he doesn’t favour adding commercials to CBC Radio. 

For an article from cbc.ca see here.

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	Executives, Layoffs, Parliament	Posted at 7:40 am (18 Mar 2009)