Representatives for Unifor told the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission it’s worried that the loss of $13 million in funding for Corus’ Global News could be “disastrous” for local news and is asking that Rogers be mandated to continue funding should its takeover of Shaw be approved.

Rogers said it plans to redirect the CRTC-mandated contributions Shaw currently makes to Global News to its own broadcaster, CityTV.

Unifor is Canada’s largest private-sector union with more than 310,000 members across the country, representing more than 26,000 workers in the telecommunication sector and 10,000 media workers, including 5,000 members in the broadcast and film industries.

“We are very concerned that the proposed takeover will lead to the loss of funding for local news in a number of locations, including in Western Canada,” said Katha Fortier, Unifor assistant to the national president. “The September 23rd response from Rogers does little to allay our fears.”

Fortier went on to say that Rogers has made no commitments to maintain, let alone increase levels of original news, even on its own stations.

On Monday, Rogers told the CRTC it plans to use the funds diverted from Global News to help build brand awareness and coverage in Western markets, something that would not negatively impact local news, as it would narrow a funding gap that currently exists between Citytv and Global.

But Fortier said the union was troubled by Rogers’ claims the move to divert funding away from a number of smaller markets would “enhance diversity” by ensuring that CityTV had the financial resources to compete with Corus and Bell in these markets, where Rogers is currently in third place.

Unifor also said it is concerned the merger will result in a loss of employment.

“Corporate mergers and takeovers lead to a consolidation of voices into an ever-smaller circle of ever-larger media conglomerates. And, at the same time, financial resources and staffing are moved away from smaller local markets and centralized in a smaller number of large urban centres,” said Randy Kitt, director of media for Unifor.

Although Rogers said the merger will allow them to invest in news coverage and hire more journalists, Kitt said the $13 million loss in funding to Global News could result in the loss of 162 jobs.

Kitt went on to say that Unifor was “not here to bash Rogers or Shaw” and clarified that they’ve taken no position on the actual merger.

“This is a wider problem. We can’t let these events go by and say we’re going to just let this money slip out of the system,” Kitt said, adding that there is a need to talk about funding the ILNF.

Kitt went on to say the CRTC should use the merger as an opportunity to protect the local news industry and treat it as an essential service.