The union representing some Bell Media workers says a total of 210 employees in the Toronto area were laid off, with most of the notifications taking place Tuesday. reports ctv.com.
About 100 of the employees are union members and are connected to Toronto television newsrooms, while the non-union staff include administration and sales staff, said Howard Law, media section director for Unifor, on Tuesday.
The affected union members include field camera operators but not on-air television reporters, he said, declining to be more specific because some affected employees have not been notified yet.
"They're laying off camera operators which has to mean less news coverage, unless they expect everybody else to work twice as hard," Law said.
Some support staff are being laid off temporarily because certain local TV information shows aren't being made in-house during the COVID-19 pandemic, he added.
Bell Media wouldn't confirm the number of layoffs. "There are further changes in roles, including some departures, reflecting Bell Media's streamlined operating structure," said director of communications Marc Choma in an emailed response to questions from The Canadian Press.
"As the media industry evolves, we're focused on investment in new content and technology opportunities while also ensuring our company is as agile, efficient and easy to work with as possible. That includes programming changes affecting some on-air positions, but I think it's pretty clear by now that our policy is not to comment on individual employees."
He added departing employees will be supported with retirement or severance packages and career transition support.
Bell Media is part of BCE Inc.'s Bell Canada division, the country's largest telecommunications company. Its holdings include the CTV television network, specialty TV channels, radio stations and production studios.
The Montreal Gazette reports Bell Media laid off all of the radio station’s reporters on Monday, two union sources told the Montreal Gazette. Bell Media would only confirm it has made “a limited number of staff reductions, many of them changes in on-air broadcast roles due to programming decisions” at CJAD.
Reporters Richard Deschamps, Shuyee Lee and Elizabeth Zogalis were among the CJAD employees who confirmed their departure Monday. News announcers Trudie Mason and Jason Mayoff remain with the station.
“Sad to report I’m the latest casualty of layoffs after nearly 28 years at CJAD,” Lee wrote on her Twitter account. “Thanks to all the class acts I’ve worked with and all the listeners. Grateful and proud to have been part of the legacy of CJAD reporters.”
Weekday evening shows Nightside, hosted by Jon Pole, and Passion with Doctor Laurie Betito have been cut, replaced with re-runs of The Elias Makos Show and the nationally syndicated Evan Solomon Show, according to an updated schedule now posted on CJAD’s website.
Unlike their counterparts at CTV, reporters in CJAD’s newsroom weren’t unionized.
Because of the job cuts, CTV’s late anchors will now be tasked with reading top-of-the-hour newscasts on the radio between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. CTV reporters, meanwhile, will be charged with producing radio content on top of their regular television, website and social media contributions.
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