Technological change in broadcast, telecom worrisome to Unifor’s Lana Payne

Lana Payne has a perspective on broadcasting and telecommunications few do. As the president of the Unifor union, she represents 26,000 telecom workers and 10,000 employees in the broadcast industry in Canada. She worries about what she sees on the horizon. “It’s been very much a situation of a lot of uncertainty in both of these sectors,” she stated in an interview with The Wire Report. “We’ve been hemorrhaging jobs, there’s no doubt about that. There’s been a breakneck pace of technological change in both of these sectors.” While some may blame artificial intelligence for problems in both industries due to how it has so far disrupted newsgathering and telecom customer service, Payne says it's much broader than that—companies are doing things differently than they did before and are finding it easier to shed workers rather than retrain them. “They’re trying to reinvent themselves and in doing that, they’re causing a lot of damage, human damage,” she says. The union has been a major lobbyist for both industries and continues its fight. Currently, it is urging the federal government to introduce legislation that will protect the sectors. In the past, it ran campaigns in favour of the Online News Act and the Independent Local News Fund, which support news companies in offering greater service. The union wants the regulated sectors to consider transition periods for workers after they are laid off, as skillsets change. Some of this was anticipated in the federal government’s directives on sustainable jobs. “We have to make sure companies that benefit from rules and regulations in Canada also have to deliver something on the other end,” the Unifor president maintains. “And that means a transition for workers where they’re not being left behind or thrown out the door with a year’s severance.” Payne proposes that transitional support could include retraining. She vows to continue being outspoken. “It’s important, I think, from our perspective as a union to be that voice out there, talking about the importance of these jobs, talking about the importance of telecommunications jobs in Canada, of broadcast media jobs in Canada, and why they’re important,” she notes. The union also wants to see the Journalism Labour Tax Credit extended to broadcasting. Payne is particularly scornful of the way BCE Inc. has been laying off workers. “We’ve seen particularly with BCE and Bell Canada what I would call an intention to maximize shareholder value or dividends at all costs, and that has come with a lot of painful decisions that have had an impact on thousands and thousands of Canadian workers, many of whom have lost their jobs in the last year or so,” she asserts. Bell defended its approach in an email to The Wire Report. “Bell’s decision to make headcount reductions is separate to Bell’s dividend policy” the company wrote. “As with any company, we balance the needs of multiple stakeholders, including employees, customers, and shareholders, among others. Forty-six per cent of BCE is owned by individual investors, overwhelmingly part of the savings of individual Canadians. The remainder of our shares are owned by institutional investors such as large Canadian pension funds that manage federal, provincial, and municipal public pension plans and the sorts of index and mutual funds that many Canadians hold in their RRSPs.” BCE said it is continuing to hire in strategic positions and will keep moving to make the firm competitive. Unifor also represents workers at Saskatchewan Telecommunications Holding Corp. It launched a campaign years ago to scare off the Saskatchewan government from privatizing the provincial Crown corporation. The government had not actually proposed such a move, but the union fired a salvo in defence because it has been worried about job losses. When MTS was privatized and then eventually sold to BCE, promised benefits did not materialize, according to a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Unifor was formed in 2013 when the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union (CEP). It is now the largest private-sector union in Canada. Payne finds herself with a foot in both CEP and CAW camps. She began her career as a reporter for the St. John’s Telegram newspaper in Newfoundland and Labrador. She was a member of the Graphic Printers Union, which later joined the CEP. At the time, the Telegram was a daily paper; it has since transitioned into a weekly. That concerns Payne. “It’s just brutal what has been happening,” she says about changes to the Telegram and to news publishing in general. “We’re going to continue to sound the alarm, we’re going to continue to fight for sources of income and funding for the media sector because I believe that’s important to how we function as a country.” After leaving that job, Payne was hired by the CAW to work in its fisheries division. After 17 years at CAW, she was elected president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour. She spent five years at the helm of the labour body. Payne rejoined Unifor in 2013 and became president in 2022. Her term expires in 2025. Payne plans to re-offer for another three-year stint leading the organization. Payne comes by her union activism honestly. Her father was a member of the Carpenters Union and later joined the provincial workers union in Newfoundland and Labrador. He continued to pay his carpenter’s dues and recently was awarded a 50-year pin from the labour body. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Technological change in broadcast, telecom worrisome to Unifor’s Lana Payne

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By Paul Park
| March 4, 2025

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Technological change in broadcast, telecom worrisome to Unifor’s Lana Payne

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By Paul Park
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