One Canuck's Radio Weblog

  Thursday, 25 August 2005

. .< 1:46:25 AM >
The CBC Lockout
[T]his isn’t about money – for the workers. CBC employees (who, again, would rather be at work) aren’t fighting for big wage increases. This is about management attempting to make radical changes to the CBC. Ultimately, management wants to eliminate the permanent workforce of dedicated professionals they now have in favour of temporary employees who would live contract to contract and have no permanent relationship with the CBC.
[Via Feedster Search: CBC Lockout]

. .< 1:42:33 AM >
TheStar.com - Reflections on the CBC strike
This is not a labour disruption.
This is a lockout.
A lockout is a calculated act of aggression, a blunt instrument, the use of economic sanctions against some 5,500 CBC employees who have been doing their jobs for the past year without an agreement.
The CBC says that, with more workers on contract, it will have the flexibility necessary to survive in the modern broadcast environment.
If that is not a lie, it is a lie's first cousin.
The CBC already has the ability to hire workers on contract for pilot shows, special projects and so on. "Flexibility" is code; the CBC really wants to expand its right to dump any producer, associate producer, researcher or host who is hired on contract without the benefit of an explanation.
This just in: The workers aren't the problem.

. .< 1:36:46 AM >
CBC On The Line - What YOU can do
If you miss your CBC, take a moment to write a letter to your member of Parliament.

Follow the link for more info

< 1:27:15 AM >

This CBC lockout is really starting to get to me. I wake up to CBC Radio One every morning, and besides missing Andy Barrie’s dulcet tones and The Voice on The Current, it’s starting to mess with my morning routine (where’s Errol Nazareth?? I need his music picks!!). For instance — if The Voice isn’t the last thing I hear before I leave the house, I know I’m going to be late. Because the weather updates come at constant, predictable times, I know exactly how many times I can afford to hit the snooze, how long I can linger in the shower, etc. Now it’s all messed up.

[Via Feedster Search: CBC Lockout]

. .< 1:09:48 AM >
Do These Guys Know What They Are Doing?

As for the NHL, if the owners wanted to risk losing half their audience to other sports and entertainment activities with an extended lockout - that's their business, after all, they own the teams.

But management don't own the CBC - we do, the Canadian audience, the Canadian taxpayer, the Canadian arts community who have been supplying the CBC with much of their content for years now.

So the CBC management better have a clear idea of what they are doing here and they had better start conveying it real soon.

< 12:08:41 AM >

Maybe political realities were such that this mandate was an impossible dream to begin with. But given today's bedlam in the air, with hundreds of TV channels, radio stations and the Internet -- mostly echoing American mores -- a clear, Canadian voice is needed more now than ever before. Otherwise, because of private-sector commercial realities, we'll be culturally overwhelmed by our neighbour to the south.

It may sound childishly naive, but the CBC is not, as some say, a business just like any other. The CBC is more a service than a business. That concept seems to be mislaid in the current firefight. It is, of course, critical to run the CBC with as much efficiency as possible, but, in the end, it is even more important for the CBC to be effective.

A lovely editorial from Knowlton Nash in the Globe today.