While its privately run counterparts are striking multibillion-dollar, landmark convergence deals, the cbc has been busy handing out pink slips – 212 in its latest round – as it attempts to converge its local supper-hour newscasts with a new national one.

In May, cbc president Robert Rabinovitch announced that instead of sticking to his plan to drop 14 regional supper-hour newscasts, and subsequently eliminate close to 700 jobs, the Corp. would cut the programs in half and package them with a half-hour national newscast, headquartered in Vancouver.

While many applauded the compromise, the new plan left cbc with a $30-million deficit, some of which Rabinovitch warned would be made up through ‘internal savings and workforce adjustments.’ There would still be ‘significant cuts,’ he warned.

And so came the latest round of layoffs: 107 tv journalists (most of whom are from the local newscasts) and 98 technicians.

The biggest job loss – roughly 80 jobs (35% of the total layoffs) – was seen in the cbc’s Atlantic division, including nine positions in Fredericton and seven in Charlottetown. Toronto is losing 36 and Ottawa 17. The latest cuts take effect at the end of September.

Over the past 10 years and with a $400 million reduction in federal funding, close to 3,000 cbc jobs have been eliminated – and more cuts in management and administration are said to lie ahead. *

-www.cbc.ca