Union says Global layoffs are a big hit to Canadian local news

One day after news broke about more layoffs at Global News, the union representing the employees who lost their jobs is speaking out.

In a statement, Unifor expressed deep concern after Corus, which owns Global News, announced job cuts impacting unionized media workers across Canada.

"It's both heartbreaking and boils my blood," Unifor National President Lana Payne said in a statement.

Unifor is raising the alarm about the impact these layoffs will have on local news.

Unifor's statement confirms what we learned through our sources: Many of the jobs were in Global's online news division, and Unifor said that the community news division also saw job cuts.

Forty-six people lost their jobs in total, but Unifor national rep Jenny Yuen explained that there were additional cuts yesterday. We've asked for clarification on the total number of people who lost their jobs.

The union expressed some concerns about the impact on local coverage across the country, saying that the layoffs will result "in a hollowing out of local news coverage."

"The media sector is under extreme threat, and we are at a critical juncture where we need life-saving intervention, including a plan from every single political party in Canada, to save local news. We would expect this necessary plan to receive all-party support so that media workers can see this country supports fact-based journalism and democracy," Payne added.

Unifor's statement said that while it might seem to viewers and consumers of news that the content they get is local, most content actually comes from a centralized hub "rather than journalists and media workers on the ground in the local communities themselves."

One employee who reached out anonymously said that while the layoffs were announced previously, the axe came down yesterday.

Beyond the Global News layoffs, Corus has been busy in 2024 making organizational changes.

"We are making tough decisions to shutter areas of the business we can no longer sustain and pause longer-term development activities," stated John Gossling, co-executive officer and chief financial officer of Corus, earlier this week in a call.

Corus also made some significant changes to its radio teams across the country.

"Certain roles have been impacted. Effective immediately, AM 730 CKGO in Vancouver will cease to operate as an all-traffic station, and 880 CHQT-AM Edmonton will cease to operate as an all-news station," Corus says.