Andrea Markey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 22/05) - It probably didn't take long for CBC patrons to notice a significant change to their favourite radio and TV channels.

Early on Aug. 15, 5,500 CBC employees nationally, including more than 100 in Nunavut and the NWT, were locked-out by their employer after contract negotiations broke off the night before.

In the North, employees in Iqaluit, Rankin Inlet, Cambridge Bay, Yellowknife, Inuvik and Fort Smith are now walking picket lines. Positions affected include reporters, camera operators, producers and technicians.

Almost all CBC North radio and television broadcasts are gone, replaced by canned music and re-runs out of Toronto.

Although 87 per cent of CBC employees voted in favour of strike action in July, the lock-out came as a surprise.

"We felt there was still room at the negotiating table," said Karen Wirsig, communications co-ordinator for the Canadian Media Guild, the union representing CBC employees. "It was an aggressive move on the part of management."

At the centre of the labour dispute is the right to a career, said Jack Vethaak, the union president for the NWT.

Thirty per cent of CBC employees are non-permanent contract workers. The CBC is trying to create a "disposable workforce" with little commitment to permanent employees in the future, he said.

"You can't go to the bank and get a mortgage on a short-term contract," Vethaak said. "Pay may be renegotiated at the end or it may not be renewed. People want job security so they can move forward with their lives."

Concerned for Nunavummiut

Locked out CBC workers in Nunavut are concerned about unilingual Nunavummiut who have little access to news.

A very limited amount of news and weather is being broadcast over radio in Inuktitut during the dispute.

Staff are also concerned they will not be able to support their families if the dispute is not settled quickly.

"Without regular pay many of our members are going to have to find other employment," said Fiona Christensen, president of the Nunavut arm of the union.

After putting in 20 hours of strike duty during the first week, workers were paid $200. By the fourth week that will increase to a maximum of about $380 per week, where the rate will stay for the duration of the labour dispute.

Strike duty can include picketing, public outreach and translation services. Employees in small one- or two-person bureaus are not required to picket. Employees who had vacation beginning on Aug. 12 were hit extra hard, said the union. Their vacation time, approved before the lock-out, is now unpaid.

"This, we believe, is a dreadful violation of our collective agreement," Christensen said.

Corporate response

In an open letter published last week in a southern newspaper, CBC Television vice-president Richard Stursberg wrote, "The Canadian media environment is the most competitive in the world. The CBC must become a much more flexible, agile, nimble operation."

There is no word on when negotiations will resume, according to the union.

- with files from Daniel T'seleie and Andrew Raven