Renewed talks between CBC and the Canadian Media Guild have resolved a handful of issues but, in the words of one union rep, there were still ‘major hurdles’ separating the network and its 5,500 locked-out employees as Playback went to press.

Talks between the two sides resumed in late August – leading to an encouraging round of agreements on a dozen issues, including turnaround time, parental leave and out-of-country work. But, as the work stoppage closed in on the one-month mark, the network and the union seemed no closer to resolving their biggest disagreements on matters including contract workers, the contracting out of other work, or the redeployment of staff.

‘They were mid-level things, not petty but not the biggest issues either,’ sys CMG president Lise Lareau.

And yet, at the same time, the network pushed back the formal launch of its fall season, originally slated for Sept. 7, noting that ‘negotiations have not proceeded far enough’ to go ahead.

The move pushes back the net’s long-awaited Trudeau miniseries, Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making, which had been slated for Sept. 25 and 26 – and casts a shadow over other prestige programs, including the bio-minis of Shania Twain, René Lévesque and Walter Gretzky, also expected to air in the fall.

CBC says it didn’t want to air the Trudeau project while dealing with the lockout. The net is instead pushing a slate of rerun documentary programming.

The net will face a more serious deadline in early October when the NHL season gets underway. Although the Ceeb has managed to air stripped-down broadcasts of CFL games, it is less likely it will take chances with its hallowed Hockey Night in Canada, least of all after having suffered through last year’s hockey lockout.

Few expect that the national pubcaster – still hurting from the league’s lockout last season – will jeopardize a second year’s worth of ad revenue by allowing the lockout to continue.

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