Inside Out

By Rebecca Schechter, President, Writers Guild of Canada

Lockout Schmock-Out

The CBC lockout lasted eight weeks. Here are a few thoughts.

Thought #1: Blame it on the feds

Since 1990, they’ve cut CBC’s budget by 40 percent, not counting inflation, while expecting the organization to do all the same programming. The CBC axed staff, stopped producing in-house drama, and finally tried to whittle away at the money they pay unionized employees and contractors. Liza Frulla, our Heritage minister, is quoted in the Globe and Mail saying that the CBC doesn’t have a problem with funding but with governance. I think there’s a problem on both counts. If the CBC had adequate funds, maybe management wouldn’t be such hard-nosed skinflints at the bargaining table.

Thought #2: Lockout schmock-out

An institution like the CBC, which is not strictly speaking government, but which most of us understand as a public service, should not be allowed to lock out its employees. I don’t care if it was a sensible bargaining strategy. It’s beyond the pale.

Thought #3: There’s no honour among thieves

Turns out, not surprisingly, that the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) isn’t the only union in conflict with CBC. The WGC also has a long-standing labour relations dispute with the Corp. In our case, however, another union, the CMG, is involved. It started some years back when the CMG went along with the CBC’s plans to raid our jurisdiction. The CBC claimed that screenwriters–who’d been working under WGC contracts for many years–were no longer protected by our agreement. The new Status of the Artist legislation, they said, limited our jurisdiction to independent contractors, and all of the writer/producers working at the CBC were dependent contractors (according to a strict and arcane definition used in the tax code) and therefore came under the CMG agreement.

Although WGC continues to fight the CBC on this issue, as it stands now, writer-producers of variety or documentary programs made for CBC work under CMG contracts. This means that they don’t receive insurance and retirement benefits, and because they sign away copyright, they don’t collect residuals or royalties (which is one of the few areas where CBC actually serves us better than the private sector).

Why did CBC do it? Because they wanted to cut costs. By shrinking the WGC’s jurisdiction they get to pay screenwriters less. The CMG wanted to expand their jurisdiction, so it went along with CBC’s plan. It should have come as no surprise to the CMG, then, that their former partner turned around and tried to save money on the backs of their own members. 

Thought #4: What’s so terrible about working on contract?

Screenwriters have been doing it for years. And for years, the WGC has protected our interests, made sure we have professional working conditions, good insurance benefits and a solid retirement plan. We don’t want to work for one organization or on one type of program forever. Of course, journalists in news and current affairs need safeguards to protect their integrity and their autonomy. CMG was absolutely right to fight hard for that security. But they might look at the WGC’s model for protecting freelancers as well.

Thought #5: Canada needs the CBC

We need more indigenous drama–and in the current landscape of Canadian network television, only CBC has the mandate and the political will to air it. We also need the unique and intelligent perspective CBC news and current affairs gives to events in our own country and the rest of the world. We need the CBC to be a healthy, vibrant institution–not one full of labour troubles, disheartened employees and embittered contract workers. Let’s turn the Mother Corp into the mother we love, not the mother we love to hate.