HALIFAX — Technical workers at CTV Atlantic in Halifax are facing layoffs.
The union that represents some of the workers says management broke the news Wednesday morning.
Andre Benoit, local president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said 26 positions could be affected.
He said the company has expressed willingness to work with the union and try to limit the number of layoffs through early retirements and transfers.
Mike Elgie, CTV Atlantic vice-president and general manager, denied that 26 positions could be at risk.
Elgie says management will work with the union to keep the number as low as possible.
“They were also told today it would be in the single digits,” he said.
The centralization of control work at CTV has been ongoing across the country as a cost-saving measure, said Elgie. He couldn’t say how much CTV Atlantic would be saving by taking control work out of Halifax.
The layoffs will take effect in September.
The job categories include master control operators, who oversee the transition between commercials and regular programming, and videotape operators, who control feeds and commercials from CTV affiliates in other areas, said Benoit, an engineer at CTV. This kind of work is also called traffic co-ordination.
“There have always been rumblings, for quite a few years, the way that CTV would manage their master control areas to consolidate, make it cheaper for them to run it from one place or another,” he said.
