Thursday, August 25, 2005
On the CBC Lockout
As some of you know, I (have) worked for CBC Radio for the past 5 years. It is a wonderful place to work, full of bright, creative, fun and intelligent people who are dedicated to both radio and public broadcasting.
I have always been a "casual" worker, someone who can be called to come in and work (or not) at the whim of the producers and their bosses in management. This worked out well for me, for the most part, because I wanted to be part time, and had a great rapport with some of the best producers. I got called a lot, in other words. But I never got a real job and so never had benefits or any kind of job security. Because I worked there, though, I was trained and given lots of opportunities to learn. The CBC spent a whole lot of money training me and I worked hard and worked well and helped to create some very good radio content.
But I was never actually hired. I was counted as a freelancer for all those years, even when I worked full-time in a management-type position running the Literary Awards. All around me I saw people who had given 15, 20 years to the CBC and who were still considered "casual". I saw some of them given the boot when management thought that was a good idea, and they didn't have much of a leg to stand on in protest.
The fact is, cutbacks made the hiring of real employees impossible for the most part, but they still needed people to make the radio and TV content. So they got all the young, eager, passionate people who were willing to live on a tightrope and they used their talents and energy and gave them a paycheque but no benefits or job security. CBC people make great public broadcasting programming (for the most part), and they do it with few resources and lots of resourcefulness and imagination. If you're going to train and pay people for years and years, you should hire them and let them have some sense of security and a real job title. They are professionals, and the people I worked with (and I) deserve to be treated as such.
Lots of people would say that CBC employees want too much. I say find me educated, intelligent, creative and hard-working people who are willing to give everything they've got to making public radio and TV, and then tell them that they will probably never have an actual job. If they don't say "Screw you. I'm worth more than that", they probably already work for the CBC and figure it's worth the insecurity to be a part of something you believe in.
Find me people who are dying to take advantage of all that good will and talent, and I'll suggest that they work for CBC management, if they don't already.
As some of you know, I (have) worked for CBC Radio for the past 5 years. It is a wonderful place to work, full of bright, creative, fun and intelligent people who are dedicated to both radio and public broadcasting.
I have always been a "casual" worker, someone who can be called to come in and work (or not) at the whim of the producers and their bosses in management. This worked out well for me, for the most part, because I wanted to be part time, and had a great rapport with some of the best producers. I got called a lot, in other words. But I never got a real job and so never had benefits or any kind of job security. Because I worked there, though, I was trained and given lots of opportunities to learn. The CBC spent a whole lot of money training me and I worked hard and worked well and helped to create some very good radio content.
But I was never actually hired. I was counted as a freelancer for all those years, even when I worked full-time in a management-type position running the Literary Awards. All around me I saw people who had given 15, 20 years to the CBC and who were still considered "casual". I saw some of them given the boot when management thought that was a good idea, and they didn't have much of a leg to stand on in protest.
The fact is, cutbacks made the hiring of real employees impossible for the most part, but they still needed people to make the radio and TV content. So they got all the young, eager, passionate people who were willing to live on a tightrope and they used their talents and energy and gave them a paycheque but no benefits or job security. CBC people make great public broadcasting programming (for the most part), and they do it with few resources and lots of resourcefulness and imagination. If you're going to train and pay people for years and years, you should hire them and let them have some sense of security and a real job title. They are professionals, and the people I worked with (and I) deserve to be treated as such.
Lots of people would say that CBC employees want too much. I say find me educated, intelligent, creative and hard-working people who are willing to give everything they've got to making public radio and TV, and then tell them that they will probably never have an actual job. If they don't say "Screw you. I'm worth more than that", they probably already work for the CBC and figure it's worth the insecurity to be a part of something you believe in.
Find me people who are dying to take advantage of all that good will and talent, and I'll suggest that they work for CBC management, if they don't already.
# posted by becca : 11:32 AM
