Friday, August 26, 2005
CBC Lockout XXVIII: "There will be hell to pay"
NDP leader Jack Layton, his wife, Olivia Chow and Ontario MPP Marilyn Churley visited the picket line outside the Toronto Broadcast Centre this morning. The quote of the day from Layton's speech; "If this is still going on when the Commons resumes there will be hell to pay."
There are developments today on all political fronts.
Susan Delacourt in the Toronto Star reports heavy pressure in the Liberal caucus to bring a settlement.
And Canadian Media Guild officials say they are hearing that Conservatives in rural ridings, especially in the West, are getting an earful from their constituents about what has happened to CBC Radio. With a lot less or even no news on private radio and a lot of the shows syndidcated by satellite, CBC Radio is quite often the only service that serves rural Canada. Layton also mentioned the same complaints in his speech, telling an audience of several hundred locked out CBC staff that satellite syndication doesn't serve Canadians.
Notes:
What is the big announcement?
There is a new manager who has started blogging, "Charlie" on the Quietly Typing blog And no one is sure if this one is legit or not. The early consensus on Ouimet's Tea Makers is that Charlie is a phony.
I am no longer sure Charlie is entirely phony. Charlie's second post claims there will be a big announcement from the CBC next week:
There may be something to this. A friend I met on the picket line this morning, who just returned from Quebec, without knowing about the blog, mentioned to me that there are similar rumours swirling through Place Radio Canada about some big announcement.
(So Charlie could be a manager or could be someone from Montreal pretending to be a manager).
Possiblities mentioned on the line.
A new chair for the CBC? Coincidently Tod Maffin says that job has just been posted with the close for applications Sept. 2. So next week is too soon for the new chair. (Interestingly the online version of the posting seems to have been removed soon after Tod's blog story appeared)
A replacement for Slawko. Possibly? (also mentioned in the comments on Quietly Typing)
Something unexpected?
I also note that the comments on Quietly Typing accused Charlie of raising paranoia. Could be, could be the rumour in Montreal started as disinformation (how's that for paranoia). We'll just have to wait and see if there is anything to it.
(Details and tips always welcome at the e-mail address in the right hand column)
Talent raids
Not much to report in talent raiding.
A number of people report getting offers of short term casual work mostly from friends, work that will help fill the gap. Others have had "if you want your old job back, we'd really like to have you" calls. No one, it seems, is ready to make a move yet. (I have had one of the former offers, but for now my other time is spent trying to get the edits done on The Sonkrai Tribunal.)
Nothing more on the foreign correspondent talent raid, so I have no knowledge at this point if the job offers were even considered or if any of those involved are now in negotiations with a prospective employers.
In conversation today, however, I was told that the offers I reported earlier this week may not have been new but they may have been long standing invitations that have been renewed with the rise of Al Jazeera and the lockout, just like the people I mentioned in the first graph, who are getting calls from friends.
If there is no sign of movement in negotiations by Labour Day, when almost everyone from CBC Toronto will likely march in the annual parade, then there may be some moves on the job front.
Update 8:23 Friday
Any good reporter knows that a good camera person is worth their weight in gold.
CBC lockoutee Camera guy found an ad for camerapersons for Al Jazeera and has already sent in his resume. Closing date for the camera jobs is September 5.
But the e-mail address appears to be generic folks, (no spam style) internationaljobsATaljazeera.net
Thanks for the tip!
Note there other jobs on the site on their internatonal TV jobs index page, including ironically two at CBC, including a national reporter's job in Ottawa that expired on August 16. There are also two SRC correspondent's jobs posted on the site, one for Paris and one for Washington, both also expired. So check the dates on any ads elsewhere.
Technorati tags
journalism, CBC, blog, news, Jack Layton, NDP
5:01 PM posted by Robin Rowland
Permanent Link
Links to this post
NDP leader Jack Layton, his wife, Olivia Chow and Ontario MPP Marilyn Churley visited the picket line outside the Toronto Broadcast Centre this morning. The quote of the day from Layton's speech; "If this is still going on when the Commons resumes there will be hell to pay."
There are developments today on all political fronts.
Susan Delacourt in the Toronto Star reports heavy pressure in the Liberal caucus to bring a settlement.
And Canadian Media Guild officials say they are hearing that Conservatives in rural ridings, especially in the West, are getting an earful from their constituents about what has happened to CBC Radio. With a lot less or even no news on private radio and a lot of the shows syndidcated by satellite, CBC Radio is quite often the only service that serves rural Canada. Layton also mentioned the same complaints in his speech, telling an audience of several hundred locked out CBC staff that satellite syndication doesn't serve Canadians.
Notes:
What is the big announcement?
There is a new manager who has started blogging, "Charlie" on the Quietly Typing blog And no one is sure if this one is legit or not. The early consensus on Ouimet's Tea Makers is that Charlie is a phony.
I am no longer sure Charlie is entirely phony. Charlie's second post claims there will be a big announcement from the CBC next week:
Rumour has it that the corp will be making a major announcement next week. Details are sketchy, so I won't get into any speculation at this time. However, the anticipated announcement is rumoured to have very little, or nothing to do with negotiations
There may be something to this. A friend I met on the picket line this morning, who just returned from Quebec, without knowing about the blog, mentioned to me that there are similar rumours swirling through Place Radio Canada about some big announcement.
(So Charlie could be a manager or could be someone from Montreal pretending to be a manager).
Possiblities mentioned on the line.
A new chair for the CBC? Coincidently Tod Maffin says that job has just been posted with the close for applications Sept. 2. So next week is too soon for the new chair. (Interestingly the online version of the posting seems to have been removed soon after Tod's blog story appeared)
A replacement for Slawko. Possibly? (also mentioned in the comments on Quietly Typing)
Something unexpected?
I also note that the comments on Quietly Typing accused Charlie of raising paranoia. Could be, could be the rumour in Montreal started as disinformation (how's that for paranoia). We'll just have to wait and see if there is anything to it.
(Details and tips always welcome at the e-mail address in the right hand column)
Talent raids
Not much to report in talent raiding.
A number of people report getting offers of short term casual work mostly from friends, work that will help fill the gap. Others have had "if you want your old job back, we'd really like to have you" calls. No one, it seems, is ready to make a move yet. (I have had one of the former offers, but for now my other time is spent trying to get the edits done on The Sonkrai Tribunal.)
Nothing more on the foreign correspondent talent raid, so I have no knowledge at this point if the job offers were even considered or if any of those involved are now in negotiations with a prospective employers.
In conversation today, however, I was told that the offers I reported earlier this week may not have been new but they may have been long standing invitations that have been renewed with the rise of Al Jazeera and the lockout, just like the people I mentioned in the first graph, who are getting calls from friends.
If there is no sign of movement in negotiations by Labour Day, when almost everyone from CBC Toronto will likely march in the annual parade, then there may be some moves on the job front.
Update 8:23 Friday
Any good reporter knows that a good camera person is worth their weight in gold.
CBC lockoutee Camera guy found an ad for camerapersons for Al Jazeera and has already sent in his resume. Closing date for the camera jobs is September 5.
But the e-mail address appears to be generic folks, (no spam style) internationaljobsATaljazeera.net
Thanks for the tip!
Note there other jobs on the site on their internatonal TV jobs index page, including ironically two at CBC, including a national reporter's job in Ottawa that expired on August 16. There are also two SRC correspondent's jobs posted on the site, one for Paris and one for Washington, both also expired. So check the dates on any ads elsewhere.
Technorati tags
journalism, CBC, blog, news, Jack Layton, NDP
5:01 PM posted by Robin Rowland
Permanent Link
