Corus announced last week that a number of changes were taking place which resulted in a number people being let go from television stations including Chex in Peterborough and CKWS in Kingston.
A spokesperson for the company stated, “as part of our efficiency review process across Corus, we have made some difficult but necessary changes to create a more sustainable future for the company. As a result, certain roles have been impacted across our News and Audio business.”
In the news division, Corus said they’ve “reimagined” their broadcast schedule in Kingston and Peterborough with a focus on the supper hour and late-night weekday news programming.
“Additionally, our Local Online team will now operate under a new model to better support local breaking news.”
Corus wouldn’t comment on the specific number of employees that were affected, “due to respecting peoples privacy,” but Unifor which owns both Global (Chex and CKWS) said they are “deeply concerned.”
“Every time an announcement like this comes in the media sector, it’s both heartbreaking and boils my blood,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“The media sector is under extreme threat, and we are at a critical juncture where we need life-saving intervention, including a plan from every single political party in Canada, to save local news. We would expect this necessary plan to receive all party support so that media workers can see this country supports fact-based journalism and democracy.”
There are 55 Unifor members from four media locals across Canada who have been impacted.
The affected roles include TV anchors, assistant news director, videographer, broadcast announcers, engineers and hosts, producers, online web producer, assignment editor, videographers, camera crew, news reporter, copy editor and digital broadcast journalists, among others.
Unifor was informed of cuts in both online and community news divisions, resulting in a “hollowing out of local news coverage.”
Unifor stated, “while on the surface, it may seem that communities are receiving a local news cast, most content is coming from a centralized hub, rather than journalists and media workers on the ground in the local communities themselves.”
“The workforce of media companies has been eroded to the point of evisceration,” said Payne. “News coverage is distributed from a main trough and companies are slashing and burning bodies as a result.
It’s a courtesy nod to the local coverage, rather than investing in local news.”
Unifor represents more than 10,000 media workers, including 5,000 members in the broadcast and film industries.
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 320,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
CBC reported last week that by the end of August, Corus expects it will have reduced its full-time workforce by 25 per cent — or nearly 800 jobs — compared with September 2022. By the end of May, Corus had cut about 500 employees.
Corus reported $331.8 million in revenue from March to May, a decrease of more than $65 million from the same period last year.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
