Canwest employees wonder what's next

While the actions ofcourts and creditors dominated the news of Canwest's retreat into court protection, the story was also one of employees whose lives have been changed far more than they expected just a day earlier.

Neil McArtney, a laid-off Global Television employee, learned just hours after Canwest filed that the move means the end of his severance pay, whichis supposed to be paid out until the end of January.

If Canwest is in bankruptcy protection right now, what's that going to mean for me?" he asked. "I'm heavily dependent on my severance at this time. I have a young family. I am working freelance but it's nowhere near what I need to support my family and pay my mortgage."

McArtney stands to lose $12,000 if his severance pay isn't resumed.

"I am angry and disappointed," he said.

Employees of the Canwest newspapers also have questions. Many industry watchers believe it was Canwest's big bet on buying the Southam chain that sealed the fate of the company and led it to its eventual filing for protection from creditors.

Peter Murdock isvice-president of theCommunications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, which represents 1,000 workers at Global Television and 1,500 at various newspapers.

'They're in for the fight of their life.' Peter Murdock, Communications, Energy & Paperworkers

"Our members are extremely worried about what the future holds now," he said. "They've already gone through a devastating few years" when 1,000 employees lost their jobs at Canwest between 2001 and 2008.

Murdock promised to oppose any changes to pensions or severances.

"They're in for the fight of their life," he said. "These employees have worked in order to have a retirement that they can sustain. There's no way that they should be touched by a company that bet the house on merger and acquisitions despite parliamentary committees and others warning them against it.

"My concern right now is that given the debtors and the lenders are calling a lot of the shots,a lot of that debt is clearly in the hands of foreign ownership. Can the Government of Canada assure us that these decisions are being made by Canadians, [and] not being instructed by Goldman Sachs and other large U.S. investment structures?"