(Montreal) The General Cinema and Television Union, which represents employees of the National Film Board, deplores the fact that 53 workers will lose their jobs as part of a “modernization” announced by the NFB .
The affected local section of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), affiliated with the FTQ, maintains that this brings the number to 80 NFB workers affected since the start of the year.
In a press release, the management of the ONF mentioned a reorganization of its workforce, a “modernization exercise” which “results in the departure of 55 employees and the creation of 23 new positions”.
Management speaks of “the changing context of an evolving industry”.
At the same time, however, it notes that this “major modernization” “allows it to anticipate a significant increase in its production budgets”, i.e. an additional 5 million “which will be allocated directly to the production of animated films and documentaries” , based on the current funding level.
The union deplores this “umpteenth wave of job cuts” at the ONF and the language used, which evokes modernization.
“We are not fooled and do not subscribe to the management’s discourse which transforms job abolitions and cutbacks into a modernization operation. For our members and their families, these are cuts, period. We have been hammering home for years that the structural deficit in the organization’s budget threatens its mission. A real modernization would be to ensure adequate funding for the ONF to preserve its integrity and protect the artisans who work there with all their heart,” commented Olivier Lamothe, president of the relevant local section of the union. .