Bell Media has confirmed it’s eliminating 43 technician positions supporting the media division.
A spokesperson told Broadcast Dialogue that the workforce reduction is part of ongoing restructuring announced in February as parent company BCE moves to reduce its workforce by 4,800 positions to drive cost savings.
“Bell announced in February a restructuring at all levels of the company and in all business sectors. Since then, Bell has been working with its unions on the implications for our unionized workforce,” Bell said in a statement.
The company said no departures will occur until the period between Aug. 30 and Sept. 27.
“We will be providing training, offering voluntary severance packages and eliminating vacant positions wherever possible to mitigate the impact on our team members,” the statement continued. “Bell has and will continue to comply with all of its obligations under the respective collective agreements, and to comply with all applicable federal laws.”
Cuts tied to relocation: Unifor
Unifor said it has been informed that 49 unionized positions might be impacted in Locals 79-M and 723-M, driven by what the company calls the “Willow” plan to relocate its downtown Toronto news stations CP24, BNN and NewsTalk 1010 (CFRB-AM), to Agincourt, ON, where they will join CTV Toronto, CTV News Channel and CTV National News.
The union said those cuts will impact production workers, including ENG editors and supervisors, media services coordinators, media services technicians, graphics artists, post sound, AV technicians, and engineering technicians, among others.
They will join the 100 staff released in the media division in February when the company moved to eliminate noon news on CTV stations outside Toronto and most weekend newscasts, among other programming. Another 1,300 positions were cut in June 2023.
“This is a corporation that has made billions of profits at the end of last year and they continue to carry on with their profit-over-people principle,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne, in a release. “This is yet another blow to journalism and democracy and a step towards bigger swaths of news deserts across Canada.”
Subscribe Now – Free!
Broadcast Dialogue has been required reading in the Canadian broadcast media for 30 years. When you subscribe, you join a community of connected professionals from media and broadcast related sectors from across the country.
The Weekly Briefing from Broadcast Dialogue is delivered exclusively to subscribers by email every Thursday. It’s your link to critical industry news, timely people moves, and excellent career advancement opportunities.
Let’s get started right now.
