I’ve heard a few grumblings about the CBC’s cbcnegotiations.ca web site. People are wondering why it only tells one side of the story, and why it sucks.
A good question and one worth looking at.
Well, it’s not a news site, for one. It’s a propaganda tool. And to be fair, so is the CMG’s site. The makers of these sites are not interested in talking about issues, they’re interested in shouting their side of the story.
Which is why, I suppose, tea makers like Beau Levitt came to work Monday morning with no idea what was going on. Brother voted for a strike and still didn’t know it was happening. Apparently Don Cherry didn’t even know he was in the union.
Truth is, employee communications have been ham-handed leading up to this, to say the least. Any employee who read the regular communiqués coming out from either end over the last few weeks would have thought they were talking about two different things. I’m not sure who is benefiting from this confusion, but it isn’t me, and it isn’t the tea makers on the line.
But back to the site: part of the reason it is so bad is that it is not a CBC site at all: its built and hosted by the fine people at Prescient Digital.
Now why is that, I wonder?
6 Comments
The second week is almost over. I feel the lockout will last six weeks. It takes two weeks before both parties can sit down face to face once an action has started. I’ve been around this block(pardon the pun) before.This is my seventh strike in 30 years of work. Twice while I worked construction of a paper mill. Once during it’s operation. And now my fourth with the corp in 27 years here. They all seem to follow a pattern. Rumours abound that Bobby the headmaster will be dismissed. The children Dick and Jane have been told they can no longer play ball…so the question is…..who’s in charge? ..who’s running the show….some one wrote last week that it’s going to be a rocky ride….more for management i think than us. Forget the big bucks for manager’s there’s confusion and frustration on the inside..they weren’t ready..didn’t have any idea what it takes to put a show on the air….all we have to do is hold fast…management will self destruct in some kind of internal power struggle in the very near future. Adding fuel will be the politicians who are starting to ask what the F@#K is going on in there.
For us unit 2 members, this is the 3rd time we go through this propaganda war that just leads to walking around with a picket sign.
I’m glad that unit 1 people are finally noticing how dirty the CORPSE can play and how unpleasant it is to be out.
Oh well, at least we don’t have to watch co-workers walk by us and go to work the way unit 2 had to in ’99 and ’01.
The last 2 comments are particularly enlightening. Thank you for writing.
Something besides the obvious stinks about that cbcnegotiations site. I honestly don’t know what it is, but if I were a nosy fellow I would start with the names on this page and see where they took me.
After watching our management for some two decades, I’ve come to the following conclusions:
Business people make broadcasting decisions
Broadcasting people make business decisions
Any of the lower managerial positions where the promotions have come from the lower ranks, have people managing who have no idea how to conduct a business. They routinely blunder through business decisions without some business sense.
Conversely, the fat cats who’ve chosen to ‘let them (us) eat cake’ have no sense of the demands of a modern day production environment. Generally speaking, they assume that computers have made everything magically ‘automatic.’
Those of us who deal with this on a daily basis can only wish this was so.
As it stands, those of us who’ve been left have inherited a doubling of the workload AT LEAST, and frankly, as long as we make a point NOT to talk about the corp, the walk around the TBC can be very nice.
I hear that soon we’ll be getting temporary job postings on the picket line off the Employment Canada website.
Let’s be clear…there’s a world of differnce between the “CBCnegotiations” site and the CMG. Who pays for the CBC site? Hmmm? Why is the CBC allowed to abandon any duty or obligation to truth, accuracy, fairness and honesty because they were “forced” to lock employees like myself out?
The CMG site and it’s ilk are sustained with money from employees. Money that was earned and deducted.
CBC managers are continuing to draw on taxpayers money to publish ads that are so unclear as to be dishonest, and to publish propaganda on the web that cuts off the organization’s nose to spite it’s face.
They’re sabotaging any good will we have with those who are already frustrated with CBC’s existence, and fostering the impression in people’s minds that journalists they were “forced” to lock out, are unreasonable, short sighted, irrational and greedy.
Way to go. Thanks for making my job so much easier when I go back to work.
It is CBC managers who orchestrated this fiasco who should be ashamed of what’s happened.
They engineered it. It has nothing to do with “flexibility”. It’s purely about money. Why can’t they just be honest with the people who are not only paying THEIR salaries, but also for the ads.
Those who would drive this ship into the rocks don’t care about public broadcasting, or journalism, or anything we do that makes people want to listen and watch.
How many of them have actually held a microphone or pursued contacts for months in order to break a story?
If there’s one thing this whole episode has given me, it’s a true glimpse of the faces of those in command.
And that’s who the public should be angry with.
Hi, I’m on the line in Toronto and I’m trying to get the word out. I’ve made a message board as a kind of online meeting place and extra support network during the lockout.
Here’s the flyer in the making
For as long as the lockout lasts it is going to be important to stretch dollars. The best way to do this is to help one another out. I have created an online message board for this purpose.
In addition to areas to discuss the lockout itself, there are areas to post freelance or day work (if you can’™t take it yourself), areas to set up car pools, arrange to exchange day care time with others, an area to discuss finance generally and more.
The more people that participate the better it will work. So if you feel you have something to contribute or gain from this, or if you simply need a place to vent and ask questions. Please log on to http://cbclockout.proboards55.com/index.cgi or if you have questions or concerns, email me at contact@justinbeach.com
If you’re interested please check it out and pass it along.