BBC slammed over Canadian dispute

Unions have condemned the BBC for taking sides in an industrial dispute at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Since CBC locked out its 5,500 union workforce on Monday August 15, news programmes from BBC World have been broadcast across Canada to fill gaps in schedules caused by the lockout.

CBC's main TV channel has replaced all its normal bulletins with feeds from the BBC, and its news channel has increased the number of BBC-provided bulletins it transmits to six a day.

In a letter sent to the BBC sent today, August 17, BECTU and the NUJ accused the Corporation of undermining union members in Canada by helping to keep CBC on the air, and warned that serious damage was being done to the BBC's reputation.

Lise Lareau, President of the Canadian Media Guild (CMG) which represents the locked-out workers, said: "The BBC runs the risk of losing its international status as an impartial and highly regarded news service by so openly being associated with one side in a dispute between CBC and its staff. People in Britain and elsewhere should be concerned about this."

The BBC's two main unions have demanded an urgent meeting with top managers to discuss the issue, and will be urging the Corporation to cut the lifeline that has allowed CBC to avoid blank screens while its staff stand on picket lines.

Martin Spence, BECTU Assistant General Secretary, said: "The BBC's support for a broadcaster who has locked out its staff rather than talk to them can only make CBC management bolder, and will probably lengthen a dispute that should never have happened in the first place. The last thing the BBC needs is this kind of damage to its reputation at a time when the debate about its own future is beginning".

CBC's move to lock out its workforce came after talks between Canada's main public broadcaster and CMG collapsed due to differences over the use of staff on short term contracts.

Managers wanted the union to accept a new collective agreement which would allow the level of contract staff in CBC, currently almost 30% according to the Guild once casuals were included, to be significantly increased, allowing contract workers to replace permanent staff as vacancies occur.

By comparison, the BBC itself consciously reduced the incidence of contract working, with union support, from 24% of its workforce in 2000 to less than 14% by 2004.

CBC management have been accused by the Canadian Media Guild of demanding impossible concessions from the union as part of a pre-conceived plan to engineer a workforce that was "mostly temporary". The union has also emphasised the long-term damage that will be done to public service broadcasting in Canada if CBC protracts the current lockout.

More information from Lise Lareau: 00 1 416 591 5333