Local CBC staff will be reduced

The normally buzzing office at the corner of Third Avenue and Elliott Street in Whitehorse was quiet Wednesday, as four local CBC

The normally buzzing office at the corner of Third Avenue and Elliott Street in Whitehorse was quiet Wednesday, as four local CBC

Radio One employees were served with “redundancy notices” from the corporation’s head office.

Reports that there would be actual layoffs this week have been toned down since Wednesday morning.

However, the fact remains that approximately half of the people who received word that their positions are unnecessary to the corporation will ultimately lose their jobs by September.

“This is a very, very sad day across the country and here locally,” CBC producer and union representative Russ Knutson said Wednesday afternoon from the Whitehorse offices.

“People here are as much friends as they are colleagues, so it’s an emotional day, but it’s been an emotional few weeks.”

In late March - when the Conservative government turned down a plea from the national public broadcaster for funds to make up a $171-million budget shortfall - CBC employees were told to expect job losses and programming cuts.

The notices handed out are just one part of a corporation-wide budget-cutting effort which has included selling off property and equipment.

Originally, about 800 full-time positions were threatened; that number has now been reduced to 300.

Because some of those positions are currently open or being filled by people who are eligible for retirement, the actual number of layoffs expected is closer to 170, according to CBC management.

The head of CBC North, John Agnew said giving out the redundancy notices “starts a whole process that involves the Canadian Media Guild and CBC management in finding places for people whose jobs have been declared redundant.”

But, he added “there may well be people who will lose their jobs at the end of this process.”

Knutson confirmed that four people in Whitehorse were affected, including one radio producer, a reporter and both members of the regional unit.

The regional unit is responsible for creating the weekly pod casts and Sunday’s True North radio show, as well as co-ordinating the local bureau with the national network.

“We’re not giving out names at this point,” Knutson said.

Everyone who received a notice will have the option of being transferred to a new bureau or new position, Knutson said, or can take a voluntary retirement.

However, two people from the Whitehorse office will definitely lose their jobs by September, he said.

“Nobody could have predicted this,” he said.

“It’s a very subdued crowd we have here (Wednesday). The challenge tomorrow will be to say, ‘We know what the reality is now, so how are we going to do things with two less bodies on the ground?’”

Programming will certainly be affected, said Knutson, and everyone is bracing for big changes.

“This might be just the beginning of something worse, or it might be the worst,” he said.