| RCI ACTION COMMITTEE Defending Radio Canada International - Canada's Voice to the World |
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| Petition presented to Denis Doucet, General Manager, RCI by the union representing most RCI employees in Montreal June 19, 2001 Mr. Denis Doucet, The management of Radio Canada International has launched a fundamental reorganization and is proceeding with new programming in a way that constitutes a radical break with the traditional mandate of the service. The employees welcome some of the ideas put forward in the redeployment plan. For example, we are open to the creation of new theme programmes. However, unlike management, we do not believe that these new broadcasts should constitute the core of our programming. We believe that this will be detrimental to our mandate to provide reliable news and information to our listeners. This reorganization puts our credibility and standing with both listeners and other international broadcasters at stake. We regret that the project for a news-magazine programme - in place for less than a year – was suddenly cancelled without any formal evaluation. In spite of our willingness to work together, we have serious reservations as to the reorganization of RCI personnel in English, French and foreign language sections. We question the relevance of creating additional coordinators as a sine qua non of changes to our programming. We are deeply concerned that such an approach will compromise the heart and soul of the service which includes our professional autonomy and esprit de corps. Given the current context, where RCI's programming is being revised, we deem it prudent to defer any hasty decisions, specifically, the current postings. To this end we, the undersigned, RCI staff, and the Syndicat des Communications de Radio-Canada, request a meeting of the joint committee. This would include the participation of representatives of both RCI management and staff in order to renew the dialogue which has, until now, marked RCI's unique culture. Signed by almost all RCI staff in Montreal. For more details on the program changes: Announcement of new program approach Agenda of program changes Program and audience descriptions Initial position of new administration |