Online News Act Golden Era: Rogers Slashes 10,000 Jobs

The supposed golden era of the Online News Act is continuing with Rogers slashing 10,000 employees.

When the Online News Act was still just Bill C-18, lobbyists who were lying their collective asses off to see this bill pass were arguing during the debate that the government must pass this because people’s jobs were at stake.

They argued that if this bill doesn’t pass, massive numbers of people were going to lose their jobs and whole news organizations were going to just shut right down because so many were on the verge of bankruptcy. Don’t worry, lobbyists exclaimed, lawmakers could put a stop to the massive layoffs if they just pass the Online News Act. Doing so would mean that the whole sector would enter a whole new golden era where hiring would be happening left and right. The whole sector would become revitalized and we would enter that golden era of journalism.

Even back then, it was pretty obvious it was all lies. There was not going to be a new golden age of journalism that would occur once the Online News Act was going to pass. In fact, it was going to be quite the opposite. Those layoffs were going to happen anyway. Once the Online News Act got passed and the lobbyists got everything they wanted, they were going to slash those jobs anyway.

As if to punctuate the point, during those debates, the “but AUSTRALIA!!!” crowd got a rude awakening when News Corp slashed 1,250 jobs prior to the bill being passed. I happily notified Senator Paula Simons about this who happily accepted that story and decided to ask lobbyists both here in Canada and in Australia why that corporation was slashing jobs in this supposed “golden era” of journalism in that country. Lobbyists from both looked around nervously and awkwardly, knowing that their lies were being called out. In response, they argued that they can’t speak for what one company does, but this is not representative of just how great and wonderful things are in Australia. They stuck to the lie that hiring is happening like crazy in the country and this would happen here if the Online News Act was passed.

Ultimately, the Online News Act was passed and link taxes became the law of the land. The supposed “golden era” was well and truly under way and reality hit Canadians like a freight train. No longer needing to keep up appearances, corporations in the sector began hacking and slashing jobs as they unleashed a tsunami of pink slips.

Bell slashed 9% of their workforce and raised dividend payments for shareholders. An angry government demanded answers after realizing that they had well and truly been hoodwinked despite warnings that this precise thing was going to happen. Bell responded to those angry questions with mockery and even went so far as to say that because the money wasn’t flowing in overnight (something they knew was unrealistic), they had to make those layoffs and that this really was all the governments fault in the end. Then, as another giant middle to Canadians, Bell then followed that up with another round of layoffs.

Other corporations at least had the decency to wait for the headlines to fade, but they knew they were going to follow suit. Corus, for instance, laud off 25% of their workforce. Global issued layoffs as well. This was followed up by Bell laying off an additional 700 employees.

While things grew a bit quiet on this front, it was really only a matter of time before more layoffs hit. Today, those layoffs hit quite big. Rogers said that they were laying off 10,000 employees. That is close to half of their entire workforce given that they reportedly employ 25,000 employees. From Mobile Syrup:

Rogers is reportedly offering buyouts to half of its employees, marking one of the largest job reduction efforts in years.

The company had 25,000 employees at the end of last year, which included roughly 3,000 Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), though MLSE workers won’t be eligible for the buyouts.

Per the Globe and Mail, Rogers announced on Monday that it would offer voluntary departure packages to 50 per cent of employees. However, the company did not specify a reduction target. Instead, the company says it’s trying to adjust costs based on “business realities.”

“We are taking steps to adjust our cost structure to reflect the business realities of the current environment. As part of this, some teams have chosen to offer voluntary departure and retirement programs to give some employees the choice to decide whether they’d like to stay with the company or begin a new chapter,” Rogers spokesperson Zac Carreiro told the Globe.

Along with MLSE, some of Rogers’ other business units aren’t eligible for the buyouts, including the company’s on-air talent, Sportsnet employees, union employees, and Toronto Blue Jays employees.

The golden age of the Online News Act, everyone! If you said that the Online News Act was going to lead to massive layoffs, you would be called a “shill for Big Tech” and accused of trying to undermine the efforts to make “Big Tech” “pay their fair share”. I didn’t say that the layoffs were going to happen because I don’t like the news executives, but because I knew they brought their A-game of being professional bullshit artists the entire time.

Of course, I wouldn’t put it past them to tell us to not dare talk about rescinding the Online News Act. If that were to happen, then we would really see layoffs happen. This despite the fact that those layoffs were going to happen regardless of the status of that law. They know that their executive overlords are getting that free money gravy train and the last thing they want is to see this massive ripoff come to an end.

At any rate, people are losing their jobs left and right. They are definitely getting hurt in all of this and I have my sympathies for those that are losing their jobs. Still, knowing how things are going, I doubt this will be the last of the layoffs.

Drew Wilson on Mastodon, Bluesky and Facebook.