"CBC is pre-empting the
government mandate review and public input ..."
Lise Lareau
CMG national president |
 |
"This is a hell of a price to pay
to save $1 million out of a $1.6-billion budget."
Arnold Amber
CBC Branch president |
 |
| |
|
|
|
20 April 2006
Guild leaders rip CBC decision
to kill off TV design department
79 employees in Toronto to lose their
jobs
Canadian
Media Guild | TNG Canada
Local 30213
The closing of CBC’s design department
is a big mistake and marks the end of the public broadcaster’s
ability to produce its own TV programs in house, according
to Canadian Media Guild leaders.
“The CBC is also pre-empting the
government mandate review and public input by taking this
action now,” says Lise Lareau, national president of
the CMG. A newspaper report published today indicates that
Heritage Minister Bev Oda wants to move quickly to launch
the review.
“CBC says it will save $1 million per year by killing
the design department and keeps referring to layoffs as another
business decision,” says Arnold Amber, president of
the Guild’s CBC Branch. “This is really about
people and their lives. In this particular case, people have
contributed many years of first-rate service to make CBC
look wonderful on the air. When these people walk out the
door for the last time, they will be taking with them the
long and celebrated tradition of high-quality television
design in Canada.
“And where’s the good
business sense in this? This is a hell of a price to pay
to save $1 million out of a $1.6-billion budget.”
By the end of the summer, CBC will no longer
be able to design sets, or make costumes, props, or special
effects in what has been the centre of television production
for the public broadcaster. Employees
were told today that design equipment would be sold off in July.
Of the 79 layoffs announced today, most are in the design
area. It is likely the CBC will try to use whatever savings
may come from the demise of the Toronto design department
to buy more programs from outside producers.
“Clearly, the CBC is abandoning TV production as a
core business,” says Amber. “Until today, if
you were developing a program or changing the set, you could
work closely with the set designers and construction crews
to make sure the look was right. Working with outside people
won’t be as easy or effective.
“The CBC is slamming the door on a seasoned and talented
group of people whose skills are among the best in the industry.
They have given CBC TV its public face. Producers and directors
making programs don’t even know who they will be dealing
with from one day to the next.”
Don Ferguson, a member and co-creator
of CBC’s highly
successful TV show, Royal Canadian Air
Farce, agrees.
“Today marks the end of the dream,” says Ferguson. “One
of the reasons we stayed with CBC is that everything is in
this building. For example, we get a script Monday, we design
and build all the sets and costumes through the week, and
we are on the air Friday. It’s the proximity of everything
that makes this so special.”
“Over the last 20 years, the CBC reduced the number
of programs it made inside, and has been buying more and
more from the commercial sector,” says Lareau. “With
better funding and political will, there was always the possibility
of the public broadcaster making more of its own programming
again. But this move puts an end to that.
“If the design department was maintained and managed
differently, it could be a valuable resource for the country’s
film, theatre and TV production industry and a source of
revenue for the CBC.”
The CBC says that other broadcasters
don’t do inside
design. However, Radio-Canada has a design department in
Montreal with at least 133 employees.
Affected employees are meeting today with representatives
of the Guild and a meeting of the design group has been called
for Monday to explore options for the future.
(This story first appeared on the Canadian
Media Guild website.)
|