Corus Entertainment continues to take on water after laying off 16 more newsroom positions in British Columbia and eastern Canada on Friday.But this time it wasn’t the company making the announcement, but rather the union representing demoralized workers.In a statement, Unifor national president Lana Payne compared the steady stream of layoffs to a slow, lingering death for the mainstream media giant.“The announcement of more Global News layoffs in B.C. and Eastern Canada is yet another devastating and disheartening death by a thousand cuts to the media industry,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a statement.“We will support our affected journalists and media worker members during this uncertain and difficult time. We need governments to continue to direct critical funding to save local news and give democracy a chance to survive this crisis.”.Also on Friday, Global senior management announced the departure of long-term European correspondent Crystal Goomansingh and joined CBC, effective immediately..“Please join me in thanking Crystal for her many contributions to Global News over the years. Crystal, you will be missed, and we wish you the best in your next chapter,” wrote Global’s national news VP Sonia Verma in an internal email obtained by the Western Standard.The union said the vast majority of the reductions were at Global News outlets in BC.It noted 55 of its members across Canada were let go in July, after earlier cuts of 35 workers in June and 11 earlier in 2024. Combined with this week’s cuts, that’s 117 lost union jobs at Corus and Global this year.A source at Global Calgary said staff fear even more cuts coming as early as this afternoon — bad news has long had a way of being announced at 4 p.m. on a Friday.On Wednesday, Corus closed the nearly century-old AM radio station 900 CMHL in Hamilton, Ont., and reformatting 980 CFPL in London.The media company has blamed the cuts on a loss of advertising to big international streamers and content providers as well as predatory business practices from competitors like Shaw — to which it filed a formal complaint to the CRTC.“Given the realities of our industry, we have been faced with the challenges that have come with the significant shift in advertising spending, with the increased and unregulated presence of foreign-owned media platforms,” it said in releasing financial results earlier this month..The question is whether parent company Corus can survive until the end of August and a possible breaching of its debt covenants that would hamper its ability to carry on as a ‘going concern’.According to Unifor, that’s when the company may be eligible to qualify for subsidies under an independent local news fund administered by the CRTC. The union has filed its own submissions requesting a hearing after September 6 “and hopefully allow Corus to access these much-needed funds.”“Corus is currently not eligible for funding from the ILNF, because they were not considered independent (it’s owned by what’s left of Shaw after its $20 billion sale to Roger’s) and now that they are ‘independent,’ there is not enough money in the fund for them,” the union said.Unifor also represents unionized Canwest employees.
Corus Entertainment continues to take on water after laying off 16 more newsroom positions in British Columbia and eastern Canada on Friday.But this time it wasn’t the company making the announcement, but rather the union representing demoralized workers.In a statement, Unifor national president Lana Payne compared the steady stream of layoffs to a slow, lingering death for the mainstream media giant.“The announcement of more Global News layoffs in B.C. and Eastern Canada is yet another devastating and disheartening death by a thousand cuts to the media industry,” said Unifor national president Lana Payne in a statement.“We will support our affected journalists and media worker members during this uncertain and difficult time. We need governments to continue to direct critical funding to save local news and give democracy a chance to survive this crisis.”.Also on Friday, Global senior management announced the departure of long-term European correspondent Crystal Goomansingh and joined CBC, effective immediately..“Please join me in thanking Crystal for her many contributions to Global News over the years. Crystal, you will be missed, and we wish you the best in your next chapter,” wrote Global’s national news VP Sonia Verma in an internal email obtained by the Western Standard.The union said the vast majority of the reductions were at Global News outlets in BC.It noted 55 of its members across Canada were let go in July, after earlier cuts of 35 workers in June and 11 earlier in 2024. Combined with this week’s cuts, that’s 117 lost union jobs at Corus and Global this year.A source at Global Calgary said staff fear even more cuts coming as early as this afternoon — bad news has long had a way of being announced at 4 p.m. on a Friday.On Wednesday, Corus closed the nearly century-old AM radio station 900 CMHL in Hamilton, Ont., and reformatting 980 CFPL in London.The media company has blamed the cuts on a loss of advertising to big international streamers and content providers as well as predatory business practices from competitors like Shaw — to which it filed a formal complaint to the CRTC.“Given the realities of our industry, we have been faced with the challenges that have come with the significant shift in advertising spending, with the increased and unregulated presence of foreign-owned media platforms,” it said in releasing financial results earlier this month..The question is whether parent company Corus can survive until the end of August and a possible breaching of its debt covenants that would hamper its ability to carry on as a ‘going concern’.According to Unifor, that’s when the company may be eligible to qualify for subsidies under an independent local news fund administered by the CRTC. The union has filed its own submissions requesting a hearing after September 6 “and hopefully allow Corus to access these much-needed funds.”“Corus is currently not eligible for funding from the ILNF, because they were not considered independent (it’s owned by what’s left of Shaw after its $20 billion sale to Roger’s) and now that they are ‘independent,’ there is not enough money in the fund for them,” the union said.Unifor also represents unionized Canwest employees.
