The day before, CBC bosses locked out the 1,600 members of the Communications, Energy and Paper Workers Union (CEP) across the country. The workers include camera operators, sound and lighting technicians, and all behind-the-scenes broadcast personnel. The workers could legally strike starting at noon on December 6 following seven months of negotiations. The talks broke down in face of concessions demands by the CBC bosses that would lengthen the workweek and worsen working conditions.

To put pressure on the company, CEP members held study sessions in St. John's, Halifax, Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver following the noon deadline, then returned to work. Several hours later the CBC locked out the workers. The CBC is a Crown Corporation funded by the Canadian government.

In Toronto pickets said security guards employed by the notorious strike-breaking outfit London Protection International cleared the workers out of the CBC building. "Seven guys dressed in black came up to me and told me to get out of the building," said CEP member Wayne Glover, who has worked 14 years at the CBC and is currently an audio technician.

The first issue of the union's strike newsletter reported that the CBC "has hired the London Protection International to look after our picket line. These folks are known as the 'Men in Black' or 'Injunctions R Us.' These mercenaries know the strike game inside and out. They will push you into confrontations and situations so they can go running to a judge and get an injunction against our LEGAL job action."

The CBC management tried to justify their use of what the union calls "paramilitary" security guards. "These actions [referring to the study sessions] clearly establish that CEP members are engaged in a strike action under the Canada Labour Code," said Fred Mattocks, executive director of production and resources. "We can't allow striking workers on our properties or our buildings," he added.

The strikers say the bosses had been preparing the lockout for some time. They reported that a month and a half ago surveyors had staked out the property lines around the CBC building, marking them on the sidewalks in preparation for picket lines and possible injunctions. Another striker reported they had "locked out Santa Claus" by canceling a December 6 annual Christmas party for employees and their children, claiming they couldn't guarantee facilities for it.

In an impromptu meeting with a number of strikers on the picket line, CEP Local 71M president and negotiating committee member Anton Szabo reviewed the stakes in the fight.

"They want to eliminate all language in the contract that commits them to guaranteeing meal breaks, or compensation or lieu time off if we have to miss them because of work," he said. "They also want to increase the workday by 15 minutes, cut the wages of temporary workers by 6 percent, and eliminate breaks between shifts so you can be forced to work an extra shift without a break."

Szabo stressed that the workers want to provide quality programming for people. "But with the continued cuts and stand of management, it is difficult to do," he said.

The lockout immediately affected the CBC's national radio and television programs. Local television news and regional radio programming have been cut back.

Many of the workers on the Toronto picket line are veterans of a two-month strike in 1999. Another picket, Dave, who had only started with the CBC a month ago, said his previous contact with labor struggles had been as a television technician with news teams for other companies he had worked for who were reporting on strikes and picket line events.

"They say their budget is overdrawn because of the costs of covering the September 11 events," he said. "But they are just using that as an excuse to take advantage of us."

John Steele is a meat packer and member of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 175.  
 
 
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