Monday, September 12, 2005
CBC 72: Disaster planning: Truce or consequences
(This post could be called "serious chatter." My sources inside the Toronto Broadcast Centre cannot confirm this. However since this report is being discussed on the picket line, it is worth posting, but solely as another intelligence report and as an indication of the mood in Toronto)
There are reports circulating in Toronto that senior management, after failing to deal with Hurricane Katrina, are discussing a tentative major disaster coverage plan that would be implemented in the case of an event like another natural disaster or a major attack. This may be rumour, a trial balloon or a leak of an actual plan. As noted these reports cannot be confirmed.
The information is that the plan calls for management, in the event of such an event, to open the door but under "Posted Conditions," in effect using the disaster as a chance to break the union. The idea is apparently that, at least for news personnel, their professionalism would oblige them to cross the picket line and return to work and, if the union members did not, give management a "high ground" in the battle for public opinion.
CMG officials I spoke to felt such a move was unlikely, but if it did happen, it would be vigorously opposed.
Analysis: It would be best for all concerned-- if this idea is actually being discussed in the TBC--that it not go beyond the discussion stage.
First, it would breach the "firefighters" analogy that I have been using, where firefighters involved in job action voluntarily return to work in the event of a major event, in effect, calling a temporary truce. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, it would take not long , if both sides were willing, to negotiate some sort of temporary return in the event of a disaster.*
Second, posting conditions in a disaster, if it happened, would also further the damage long term employee relations at the CBC, cause even more hostility toward management and be another black eye for the already troubled network.
*I spoke briefly to a member of the United Steelworkers from Sudbury who visited the line last Friday. He was orginally a member of the Mine, Mill and Smelterworkers Union, which has merged with Steel. In 1975, I was covering the Mine Mill strike at Falconbridge. The strike was still ongoing when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau instituted wage and price controls, which began at midnight on the evening of the announcement. Both sides went to the table and reached an agreement in a few hours, just beating the deadline. So if there is a will, there is a way.
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CBClockout,
9:40 PM posted by Robin Rowland
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There are reports circulating in Toronto that senior management, after failing to deal with Hurricane Katrina, are discussing a tentative major disaster coverage plan that would be implemented in the case of an event like another natural disaster or a major attack. This may be rumour, a trial balloon or a leak of an actual plan. As noted these reports cannot be confirmed.
The information is that the plan calls for management, in the event of such an event, to open the door but under "Posted Conditions," in effect using the disaster as a chance to break the union. The idea is apparently that, at least for news personnel, their professionalism would oblige them to cross the picket line and return to work and, if the union members did not, give management a "high ground" in the battle for public opinion.
CMG officials I spoke to felt such a move was unlikely, but if it did happen, it would be vigorously opposed.
Analysis: It would be best for all concerned-- if this idea is actually being discussed in the TBC--that it not go beyond the discussion stage.
First, it would breach the "firefighters" analogy that I have been using, where firefighters involved in job action voluntarily return to work in the event of a major event, in effect, calling a temporary truce. As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, it would take not long , if both sides were willing, to negotiate some sort of temporary return in the event of a disaster.*
Second, posting conditions in a disaster, if it happened, would also further the damage long term employee relations at the CBC, cause even more hostility toward management and be another black eye for the already troubled network.
*I spoke briefly to a member of the United Steelworkers from Sudbury who visited the line last Friday. He was orginally a member of the Mine, Mill and Smelterworkers Union, which has merged with Steel. In 1975, I was covering the Mine Mill strike at Falconbridge. The strike was still ongoing when Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau instituted wage and price controls, which began at midnight on the evening of the announcement. Both sides went to the table and reached an agreement in a few hours, just beating the deadline. So if there is a will, there is a way.
Technorati tags
journalism, CBC, blog, news, lockout,
CBClockout,
9:40 PM posted by Robin Rowland
Permanent Link
