I was wondering if Ouimet was around to comment on this stunning revelation (that actually surfaced on Thursday), but then I found out The Tea Makers blog has been resurrected by a "THE" fake Ouimet.

As near as I can tell, it started up while I was on holidays.

Anyways, from an Aug. 1 story on MSN Sympatico:

Think your job is bad? A recent survey reveals that almost half of CBC’s 10,000 workers have “high levels” of psychological distress because of their working conditions.

Sun Media reports that according to a 2005 "wellness" survey of 4,630 staff obtained through the Access to Information Act, the national broadcaster provides a "troubled" working environment for employees.

Costing an estimated $100,000, the questionnaire probed topics such as psychological health, harassment, working conditions and job satisfaction.

A full 44 per cent of respondents showed symptoms of high-level psychological distress, and 90 per cent of those claimed they were work-related. These distressed workers took twice as many sick days.

An alarming 12 per cent of employees reported receiving abusive comments, crass gestures and death threats from their colleagues and bosses. One frequent claim was that “"My boss told my co-workers that he couldn't stand me and that he hated me.”

Four out of five people said it was physically uncomfortable to work at the CBC, and they subsequently suffered from ailments including back and neck pain and sleeping disorders. A third of the staff said they would likely quit their jobs.

"It described a troubled atmosphere," said union spokesperson Dan Oldfiele of the report. "It was an extremely stressful environment. [It showed] that our health costs and absenteeism were increasing [and that] it was not an accident."

The CBC has responded to the findings. Said spokesperson Katherine Heath-Eves, "The study identified some key areas of concern and obviously we take them very seriously."

The corporation has organized a mandatory half-day "respect seminar" for staff, provided stress counselling, and hired full-time staff dedicated to making the workplace comfortable and reducing physical ailments.

The Tea Maker's response was to point to another story that suggests things might be worse at the CRTC.

You can read the comments here.

That had me wondering about the next set of contract talks, given that the three-year anniversary of that morale-building exercise known as the lockout is coming up. According to Inside the CBC, some went on very recently. Inside the CBC didn't touch the low morale story.

Anyways, this should hardly be seen as new.

One former colleague in Saskatchewan worked as a student with the CBC in Ottawa back in 1976. He used to listen with morbid fascination as his betters plotted and planned against their enemies, both real and perceived. "I'm gonna get (the enemy) transferred to Inuvik!" one guy would ominously intone as he scarfed down lunch.

I worked as a casual writer for CBC.ca in 2003 in the Front Street Bunker. At about the six-month mark, I would openly say in the plant that I now knew The Newsroom was less a satire than a documentary. :)

One thing I heard early on was that "At CBC, your colleagues are great. The problem with the CBC is venal managers." That's somewhat true. Some worker bees there were terrific. I would only say watch how those with an eye to the next rung on the ladder treat you. That will give you a good idea of your status with your betters.

I did have one boss there I thought was great. She got demoted and otherwise jerked around, and eventually left the CBC. What does that tell you? How about "Don't do your job in a way that makes your employees like you"?*

* During the lockout, one manager sent out a memo that read in part: "there should be no other managers or other non-CMG staff visiting the line, nor should there be any attempts to "improve the mood" on the line, by providing food or drink, for example. It's very important, if there is a lock-out, that we bring a quick resolution to the work stoppage. A quick resolution will be helped by picketers focussing on the reality of their situation. Making things more comfortable for the picketers does not support this goal." That person got promoted later. Nuff said.

I would note that two senior new media managers at CBC split within a week of each other back in May 2007. I don't take such acts to be a good sign.

But at the same time, the CBC does a lot of good journalistic work. The Corpse is an easy target, and certainly brings a lot of mockery on its puffed-up self, but I listen to CBC Radio pretty much daily.

I would also suggest that many glamour newsrooms around the world aren't very happy places. And it's not just limited to the news media.

Someone I know did post-doc studies in Boston at a very prestigious university. The stories he told about the office politics there would sicken you. I asked him why he stuck it out. His reason was that the best science in the world was being done there. The institute in which he toiled in indentured servitude had three Nobel Prize winners on staff. The University of Alberta was far more collegial, but science-wise, it was the little leagues, he said.

The choices adult life foists upon us, eh?

Addendum

This January 2005 post has some relevance: Bill argues with self about casual hell