Unifor welcomes CRTC ruling on national multi-lingual TV service

TORONTO – The union representing 100 journalists and media workers at Rogers OMNI television welcomes today’s Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) ruling that renews its licence for a national third language TV service.

“This is the CRTC’s vote of confidence in the quality of TV programming that our Unifor members deliver every day,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias. “The focus on local news in the licence conditions is appropriate and what our ethnically diverse communities deserve.”

Unifor is disappointed, however, by the failure of the CRTC to adopt many of its recommendations. The union had recommended licence conditions that would require proper staffing of news operations and a ban on contracting out of broadcasts to low-wage media companies.

“The CRTC raised both the news programming obligations and the subscriber fees required to pay for it,” said Howard Law, Unifor Media Director. “But capping it at 19 cents for three years without regard to rising costs and falling advertising revenues is troubling. We don’t want to see quality undercut by more contracting out or layoffs.”

“We are looking forward to putting out great programming every day and to continue earning the public’s trust in our newscasts,” said OMNI reporter Prabhjot Kahlon.

For more information, please contact Unifor Communications National Representative Christina Mitonidis at Christina.Mitonidis@Unifor.org  or at 647-327-9371 (cell).

We have discussed the import role of civic function journalism to our democracy and the specific importance of local news.

As you know, Rogers is applying to the CRTC for a 9-1-H licence for a national multi-ethnic TV news service.  Broadcasting Notice of Consultation CRTC 2018-127.

Unifor Local 830M cannot unconditionally support Roger’s 9-1-H OMNI Licence application because of the possibility that some Punjabi news production could be contracted out, like what was done with OMNI’s national Chinese news (with Fairchild).

TORONTO– The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s rejection of Unifor’s complaint against Roger’s contracting out its Chinese language newscasts is a huge loss to local news says Unifor, Canada’s largest media union.

“Local news is essential and licensed news broadcasts are not playing cards to be swapped with the only competing TV station in the community,” said Jerry Dias, National President.  “Rogers promised not to do this. They did it anyway.”

Unifor Locals 723M and 830M, which represent employees at OMNI in Vancouver and Toronto, along with The Chinese and Southeast Asian Legal Clinic, and the Urban Alliance on Race Relations argued contracting out Cantonese and Mandarin newscasts to Fairchild TV violated Rogers condition of license.

In May 2017 Rogers obtained a rare “section 9(1)h” license to re-start OMNI newscasts in Mandarin, Cantonese, Italian and Punjabi, which comes with a 12 cents monthly fee from all cable subscribers.

Rogers promised in writing “to re-establish in-house production in all markets served by OMNI’s television stations” but then only re-hired half of the 60 people that had been laid off in 2015 when those same newscasts were cancelled. Instead of re-hiring the highly skilled Chinese speaking news team, funded by the monthly CRTC fee, Rogers contracted with Fairchild TV to broadcast OMNI News, while it continued to air its own rival Fairchild newscast.

Today the CRTC ruled Rogers’s condition of license to “produce the news” does not prevent it from subcontracting to a rival licensee and even called it “reasonable in the regulatory context.”

“The Commission’s tolerance of what is now Fairchild’s editorial monopoly is based on a confidential ‘editorial control’ agreement. Taking the word of a company that has broken a written promise to Canadians to produce these newscasts in house is disrespectful to the community,” said Howard Law, Media Director.

For more information, please contact Unifor Atlantic Communications representative Natalie Clancy: Natalie.Clancy@unifor.org or (902) 478-9283 (cell)

August 2016: Unifor decided to support Rogers application for a new regional multi cultural channel based on assurances by Rogers they would reinstate 3rd language news programming using our members.

Their application was far from ideal, but better than the community affairs programming they were producing for their OMNI channels.

May 2017: The CRTC awarded Rogers a rare mandatory carriage licence (similar to APTN’s licence) with Broadcast Decision 2017-152.  With this decision Rogers is set to receive up to 14 million dollars in cable fees over the next three years to produce multicultural programming; including four daily regional news programs in Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi and Italian.

July 2017: Rogers informed Unifor of their plan to contract out the production of Cantonese and Mandarin daily news programs to a competitor, Fairchild New Media.  Unifor expressed our dissatisfaction with Rogers decision and secured a letter of understanding guaranteeing the production of Italian, Portuguese and Punjabi news will remain in-house, with our members.

September 2017: Unifor has filed a complaint with the CRTC using a Part 1 Application: 2017-975-0.  Unifor Local 723M has also filed a grievance through their Collective Agreement.

Unifor’s Part 1 Application describes how Rogers is breaching their Conditions of Licence and failing to do what they promised when they applied for a mandatory carriage licence.

Unifor responded to Rogers position by pointing out Rogers continues to be in violation of their Conditions of Licence and the CRTC should hold an expedited hearing and order Rogers to produce Cantonese and Mandarin news programs in-house as they are required to.

September 6, 2017

TORONTO The union representing Chinese speaking journalists and media workers at Rogers’ OMNI TV is taking legal action in response to the broadcaster’s unprecedented subcontracting of its daily news coverage to its only competitor, Fairchild TV.

“This $20-billion broadcaster is in violation of its CRTC licence to produce its own news coverage,” said Unifor President Jerry Dias. “Rogers promised the CRTC it would cover the news with its in-house staff. It is not supposed to get millions in customer fees, and then reneged on that promise as soon as it gets the CRTC licence.”

Rogers was granted a special licence by the CRTC on May 15 to bring back daily news coverage in the Cantonese, Mandarin, Italian, and Punjabi languages. The licence comes with a “must-carry” obligation on all cable TV distributors and a mandatory 12 cent monthly customer fee. The news shows, which went off the air in 2015, began broadcasting again across Canada on September 1.

Dias was also critical of Rogers’ failure to reveal its hand off of news gathering to Fairchild TV only after the CRTC licensing hearing, without the Chinese Canadian community having the chance to debate a monopoly on Chinese language local and national TV news.

“The news director of Fairchild TV is anti-Trudeau, pro-Conservative, and pro-Trump,” said Dias. “OMNI’s decision to contract out the work to its only major competitor denies its viewers a different perspective and a fresh voice. We believe the public had a right to know about this.”

Unifor is filing a complaint to the CRTC on the licensing issue as well as a labour grievance against the contracting out.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing more than 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.

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For more information, please contact Unifor Communications National Representative Stuart Laidlaw at stuart.laidlaw@unifor.org or (cell) 647-385-4054.

TORONTO, May 15 – Today’s ruling from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission does nothing to stop further cuts to local television news across Canada, Unifor says.

“With the CRTC failing to use the tools at its disposal to help ensure Canadians continue to have reliable news and information about their communities, the ball is now in the federal government’s court to take action,” said Unifor National President Jerry Dias.

“Local TV in this country is in crisis. Unifor had hoped that the CRTC would take that seriously with today’s ruling. We are now looking to the government to act swiftly.”

Dias was critical of the CRTC allowing major broadcasters the opportunity to reduce local news programming far below current levels; and imposing not a single requirement for staffing of local newsrooms and bureaus.

“The time for fine speeches from [CRTC Chair] Jean-Pierre Blais about big media’s corporate responsibility is over. A cabinet directive is needed to do for local TV what the CRTC lacks the will to do,” said Unifor Media Director Howard Law.

With more than 12,000 journalists and media workers in television, newspapers, magazines, news websites and film production, Unifor is Canada’s primary media union.

Law said Unifor is nonetheless pleased by the CRTC decision to revive the popular daily newscasts at the Rogers OMNI stations in Mandarin, Cantonese, Punjabi and Italian.

“OMNI plays a vital role in Canada to help our diverse communities feel more at home here. Its continued viability is essential,” Law said.

Law said Unifor applauds the opportunity in the CRTC decision for other TV companies to come forward with their own proposals for even more ethnic programming.

Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing more than 310,000 workers. It was formed Labour Day weekend 2013 when the Canadian Auto Workers and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union merged.

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For more information, please contact Unifor Communications National Representative Stuart Laidlaw at stuart.laidlaw@unifor.org or (cell) 647-385-4054.