Potential strike at CBC

The Canadian Media Guild will hold a strike vote on July 13 and 14 that could result in 5,000 CBC employees walking off the job in late summer. The union is at odds with the network over issues including outsourcing, overtime and the phasing out of permanent employees. The CMG will be in a legal strike position in mid-August, 81 days after the CBC’s request in May to bring in a conciliator. The network will also have the power at this time to lock employees out.

CBC links to producers

CBC aims to strengthen its relationship with independent producers with www.cbc.ca/ip, a new website that simplifies the submission process. The site provides network policies and submission guidelines for English program proposals, as well as contact information for production heads in each programming division. It also lists independently produced shows currently on the CBC.

No ‘Statement’

Norman Jewison’s 2003 thriller The Statement has been banned in Lebanon and Egypt on the grounds that it is too sympathetic to Jews.

The film, produced by Jewison and Toronto’s Robert Lantos, was a ‘repeated depiction of Jews as victims,’ according to Lebanese censorship authorities of the general security office, and amounts to ‘Jewish propaganda,’ according to Cairo’s Ministry of Culture. Jewison has compared the ban to ‘Holocaust denial.’

Union promotes diversity

ACTRA Toronto has launched a new catalogue aimed at promoting diversity in Canada’s film and TV industries. Mainstream Now! showcases over 400 performers from diverse cultures and races, as well as people with disabilities, and is an update of Into the Mainstream, a similar catalogue released by the union in the mid-’90s. ACTRA Toronto developed it in response to complaints from its members about the lack of ethnically diverse roles.

Mainstream Now! is free for producers and casting directors to download at actratoronto.com, or by calling (416) 642-6703.

Stay a while, says NFB

The National Film Board has reversed its policy of contract-only hirings – in place since budget cuts of the mid-’90s – and in June announced it will again offer permanent full-time jobs to some 120 employees. The process will start this fall with offers going to staffers who have been at the board for at least a year. The change applies to unionized employees and non-union management.

‘We want our employees to invest themselves in their work so that the NFB may benefit from their talent, knowledge and abilities,’ says NFB chair Jacques Bensimon.