The CBC on Wednesday handed out redundancy notices as its latest round of cost and job cutting got underway.

In all, 318 Canadian Media Guild members countrywide received the notices, which do not signal imminent layoff.

Instead, the notices, coming mostly in the CBC sports and news departments, will see unionized workers begin the long process of finding alternative work at the CBC.

The CBC and the CMG, as part of their collective agreement, will look to avoid, where possible, involuntary layoffs by filling existing vacancies.

And the process of bumping, which depends on seniority, will see temporary workers at the CBC shed first to avoid cutting  permanent workers.

“While it’s fair to say there are many employees in news and sports who are being given notice today, it’s also important to note several other departments are being affected by the cuts as well,” CBC spokesman Chuck Thompson told Playback Daily.

The cuts represent about 87% union employees and 13% managers, consistent with the overall proportion of the workforce, the CBC confirmed. As managers are not unionized, the cuts on that side were primarily terminations.

Updated May 1, 2014 at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m.