It started calmly enough. BCE, Inc. (NYSE: BCE), parent company of Bell Canada’s wireless, telephone and media businesses, in its 4Q23 earnings call last week, announced that it was taking action to reduce its workforce in 2024 by approximately 4,800 positions, the largest cut in nearly 30 years, according to the company. That headcount represents roughly nine percent of its overall workforce. BCE has not specified which positions will be eliminated but said the reductions will be implemented at all levels across the company.
Mirko Bibic, President/CEO of BCE and Bell Canada, explained that the decision was “in response to increasingly unsupportive federal government and regulatory decisions, legacy business declines and a macroeconomic environment with higher interest rates and continued inflation. As our business is hampered by regulatory decisions that discourage investment, we are slowing the pace of our network expansion and capping fiber speeds.” Then all hell broke loose!
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau joined the Premiers of Ontario and British Columbia and other government officials in criticizing BCE’s mass layoffs, Financial Post reported.
“This is a garbage decision by a corporation that should know better,” the Prime Minister told reporters on Friday, the day after BCE announced the job cuts. “I’m pretty pissed off about what’s just happened.”
While less than 10 percent of the total job cuts are at Bell Media specifically, the decision will lead to the end of multiple TV newscasts and programming, affecting hundreds of journalists and broadcasters, along with the sale of 45 of its 103 regional radio stations, mainly in British Columbia, according to Global News.
Trudeau said media layoffs have been eroding Canada’s “very democracy” at a time when people need reliable news sources more than ever given misinformation and disinformation.
The Prime Minister’s comments come after his heritage minister Pascale St-Onge criticized BCE for reneging its promise to invest in news after it was granted more than $30 million in annual regulatory relief.
“They’re still making billions of dollars. They’re still a very profitable company and they still have the capacity and the means to hold their end of the bargain which is to deliver news reports,” St-Onge said.
Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, said it was outraged by the layoffs, which will affect 800 of its union members, CBC News reported.
Stay tuned!
By John Celentano, Inside Towers Business Editor
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