Those were the bad old days. But Auckland is not the only place where deregulation, financial pressures (or the drive to maximise profit) and new technology have created a new climate where "multi-skilling," as it is somewhat euphemistically known, can threaten journalistic values. Multi-skilling, with the same journalist operating camera and sound as well as doing interviews and "pieces to camera," then editing and writing commentary, is common in the United States and is making an appearance in Britain.

In the brave new world of CBC Radio, people like Bill Stunt are models for the employee of the future. That's because downsizing is inextricably linked with two other contemporary buzzwords: multi-skilling and cross-skilling.

Multi-skilling at CBC means doing "two or more jobs" within old union jurisdictions. Cross-skilling means doing one or more jobs across old union jurisdictions.

While other behavioral and structural reforms — among them a unique type of staffing that featured multiskilling, pay based on knowledge, no seniority, and no job classifications — aided and accompanied the switch to new work schedules, company officials believe that even authoritarian managements can adopt the compressed workweek with no further innovations, providing they meet basic requirements.