FONTANA READS RIOT ACT TO CBC Resolve dispute, minister orders – Lockout `simply unacceptable' Graham Fraser – Toronto Star Labour Minister Joe Fontana vowed yesterday to keep the CBC president and the head of the network's union talking until they reach an agreement to end the CBC lockout.
"I'm lockin' the door" to the office where CBC head Robert Rabinovitch and Arnold Amber, director of the National Guild of Canadian Media, were meeting yesterday, Fontana said.
Fontana met Rabinovitch and Amber in his office in the morning, and read them the riot act on the lockout that has dragged on since Aug. 15, affecting 5,500 CBC employees.
"I told them, `Sit here. You've got all the decision makers'" and should be able to resolve the outstanding issues, Fontana said.
The two sides met into the evening and were expected to resume talks this morning, a spokesman for Fontana said last night.
Earlier in the day, Fontana told the two men he was "very concerned about the length of time it is taking to deal with the issues in dispute, and want to hear from you as to why a settlement is taking so long."
"I simply cannot comprehend why people as talented and skilled as the members of these two bargaining committees cannot come up with creative ideas to resolve the issues at the heart of this dispute," the minister said, according to a transcript of his remarks released by his office.
Fontana said both sides were doing a major disservice to themselves and all Canadians by failing to resolve the dispute.
"Fifty-five hundred people have now been on the street for 43 days and Canadians have been deprived of the service to which they are entitled, because your committees can't reach a compromise," he said.
"This is simply unacceptable. You all need to keep in mind that the CBC is a public institution, not the private playground of the union and management."
MPs who returned to the House of Commons yesterday spotted many CBC reporters in the gallery for question period.
At one point, Prime Minister Paul Martin turned in his chair to acknowledge veteran CBC host Don Newman, who usually introduces question period from the CBC studio.
But when CBC employees realized that the corporation had broadcast question period on Newsworld, despite the lockout, they set up a picket line blocking people from entering the Parliament Buildings.
Previously, the union indicated it would not picket the installation of Michaëlle Jean as governor general today, but that position could change because of the broadcast of question period.
Martin, NDP Leader Jack Layton — and reportedly, Jean herself, who carried a picket sign during the last CBC lockout — have indicated they would not cross a picket line.
It is unclear what will happen if a picket line is set up.
Fontana said he was confident the two sides would reach an agreement, and that labour department mediators were ready to assist them.
"I'm determined to keep them there so they can work through this," he said.The CBC is seeking to increase its ability to hire employees on contract rather than on permanent staff.
CTV will be covering Jean's installation today. It is also launching a program on politics with Mike Duffy on CTV Newsnet at 5 p.m. — the time that Newman's program Politics was broadcast on Newsworld before the lockout. |