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TORONTO—Unifor is condemning the latest wave of job losses at Bell Media and Corus Entertainment as Canadian media workers continue to bear the brunt of an industry in crisis and growing uncertainty over federal support for Canadian news and programming.
Today, the union was notified that Corus Entertainment is eliminating ten journalist positions, including five in British Columbia, one in Calgary and four in Toronto. Bell Media also announced nine unionized positions will be eliminated at its Queen St. W. unit in Toronto.
“These cuts mean fewer people doing the work of producing the Canadian programming audiences rely on, while the workers who remain are once again expected to do more with less,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“These companies cannot continue cutting bit by bit until newsrooms collapse.”
At Corus, only a month after 43 TV jobs were cut at the company, the ten eliminated positions are all in Global News operations, including two full-time copy editors and two full-time national online journalists at Global Toronto. In British Columbia, five positions are affected, including a full-time news anchor, two full-time producers, a part-time traffic reporter and a part-time writer. In Calgary, the work of one full-time supervisor online journalist position is being transferred.
The affected Bell Media positions include production co-ordinators at The Social and Etalk, a segment producer in live programming, a floor director, two labourers and a librarian. The company is also offering voluntary separation packages to one electronic field production (EFP) camera position and one EFP editor.
The layoffs come at a time of renewed uncertainty, following the federal government's decision to gut the CRTC's existing contribution framework for foreign streaming services under the Online Streaming Act.
The framework was intended to require major foreign streaming companies operating in Canada to contribute to the Canadian broadcasting system and help support the creation of Canadian programming. Unifor has joined Canada’s screen sector to call on the federal government to stand firm on foreign streamer contributions.
“Canadian media workers need stability and investment, not another period of regulatory uncertainty while jobs continue to disappear,” added Payne.
“Foreign streaming giants have transformed the Canadian media landscape, and they must contribute their fair share to the system they profit from. The government, regulators and media companies all have a responsibility to ensure there is a sustainable future for the people who tell our stories.”
The federal government has indicated it intends to replace the CRTC's current streaming contribution requirements with a new approach. Unifor is calling on the government to move quickly and ensure any replacement provides sustainable support for Canadian programming and, critically, the Canadian jobs required to create it.
The reported changes would eliminate an estimated $2 billion in future investment expected to support Canadian programming, production and essential local news.
Unifor has consistently warned that delays in implementing support for Canadian news would place more journalism jobs at risk. Those regulations of the Online Streaming Act by the CRTC would have required large online streaming services that make over $25 million in Canada to contribute 15% of their annual Canadian revenues to support Canadian and Indigenous content and would have reduced the contribution rates for
Unifor will continue to support its affected members during these layoffs.
Unifor represents over 9,000 media workers in Canada, who perform a diverse range of jobs, including: journalists, printers, advertising representatives, newspaper carriers, video editors, camera operators, technicians, writers, producers, editorial researchers, maintenance workers, on-air talent, stage and film crewmembers, production assistants, website developers, editors and publishers.
