After a staff lockout by management, the CBC is finding that rebuilding worker morale and viewer loyalty is about as difficult as extracting concessions during crunch contract negotiations.

‘Many of our members believe the climate is worse than before the lockout. Some members have it in for senior managers, and believe our middle managers aren’t doing anything right,’ says Arnold Amber, president of the Canadian Media Guild’s CBC branch.

The pubcaster has been shaken by rifts opened up after CBC management locked out 5,500 employees represented by the CMG on Aug. 15, following a failure between management and the union to agree on a new collective agreement after 16 months of talks.

CMG members walked picket lines for seven weeks before federal Labour Minister Joe Fontana read the riot act to both sides on Sept. 30, ordering them to negotiate in Ottawa until they had a new deal.

The main sticking point was management’s desire for greater ability to hire contract workers; it eventually settled on up to 9.5% of employees being on temporary contract.

After the new labor deal was struck, CBC employees officially returned to work on Oct. 11.

Importantly for the CBC, top revenue-generator Hockey Night in Canada returned to air in time for the NHL’s highly anticipated return.

But despite a dramatic increase in hockey viewers since resuming normal service – with weekly ratings often up 45% from what they were in the pre-NHL lockout 2003/04 season – audiences for CBC’s fall 2005 dramatic offerings have taken a hit, due largely to a shrunken promotional window caused by the lockout.

While MOWs about Walter Gretzky and Shania Twain secured decent-to-strong ratings (767,000 and 1.2 million, respectively), other big-ticket items, such as the minis Trudeau II: Maverick in the Making (average 486,000) and Il Duce Canadese (average 195,000) underperformed.

Looking back, the CBC’s initiation of the lockout over the contract workers issue is widely seen as a self-inflicted knockout.

CBC spokesman Jason MacDonald insists management negotiators had more on their bargaining wish list than hiring more temporary workers, such as concessions on out-sourcing, and adds that much of what the CBC sought in a new collective agreement was attained.

At the same time, MacDonald gives credit to the CMG for publicly framing the recent labor dispute around one issue – temporary workers – not least through the skilled use of unofficial websites, blogs, podcasts and political lobbying.

For its part, the CBC could only offer viewers reruns, BBC World newscasts and management stand-ins during the lockout, along with little explanation to the public as to why the broadcaster had suspended normal service for so long.

‘People were really upset with the lockout. Their attitude was ‘We’re paying for it and we’re not getting it. Why?” says Ian Morrison, spokesperson for lobby group Friends of Canadian Broadcasting.

The CBC now faces an uphill battle with public opinion in the lockout’s aftermath.

In a Nov. 14 letter to the parliamentary heritage committee, CBC president Robert Rabinovitch lists eight strategic priorities for his network, including ensuring the sustainability of its radio and TV schedules, strengthening its commitment to employees and its stakeholder relationships, and ensuring high-quality, distinctive programming.

MacDonald insists CBC management also has its eyes on steering the public broadcaster into the emerging digital universe. But CBC claims it must now execute its strategy with fewer resources.

Despite the perception that CBC may have profited during the lockout by not having to pay out full staff salaries, Rabinovitch, in his letter, insists that $41 million in salary savings during the management lockout was offset by $49 million in lockout operating expenses, including security and relaunch costs.

Also on tap for the CBC are possible succession plans for Rabinovitch, who faces employee disdain and political fallout with two years left in his government appointed term.

The road ahead may also include a meeting between Rabinovitch and Heritage Minister Liza Frulla to discuss the CBC’s annual appropriation for next year.

Beyond that, the CBC will continue its ongoing conversation with Canadians, telling them what’s left of their public broadcaster after its recent labor woes, and for how long.

www.cbc.ca

www.cmg.ca