The two unions representing the vast majority of CBC and Radio-Canada employees across the country are calling for president and CEO Hubert Lacroix and the board of directors to step down, citing a lack of confidence in their leadership.

“Over the last eight years, CBC/Radio-Canada has been systematically ​cripple​​d, with unprecedented programming cuts across the country and questionable plans to sell off production assets and buildings​, ​which threaten​s​ the public broadcaster’s ability to produce programming in both official languages,” says a statement on the website of the Canadian Media Guild, which represents most CBC workers, as well as Radio-Canada employees outside Quebec and New Brunswick.

“Along with constant cuts to staff — more than 25 per cent of workers laid off in five years — this damage is the vision of this president and board.”

The unions say that while the incoming Liberal government has promised to reinvest in CBC/Radio-Canada, top brass at the public broadcaster still intend to move forward with cuts to staffing and production.

“We concluded that they no longer have legitimacy,” Isabelle Montpetit, president of Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada, told the Star. That union represents most of Radio-Canada’s employees in Quebec and New Brunswick.

The unions distributed a petition on Thursday among their members calling for the resignation of Lacroix and the board members, all of whom were appointed under the outgoing Conservative government. It accuses them of acting with haste in implementing the Conservatives’ budget cuts, and an “inability” to defend public broadcasting and production.

Lacroix, who was reappointed to a second five-year term in 2012, was not made available for an interview. Rémi Racine, chair of the 12-member board, did not return a request for comment.

CBC spokeswoman Alexandra Fortier said Lacroix “is encouraged by the incoming government’s expressed support for public broadcasting and their commitment to reinvest in CBC/Radio-Canada. He looks forward to working with them, our unions and our employees to ensure Canadians get the best in public broadcasting.”

Prime Minister-designate Justin Trudeau said during the federal election campaign that a Liberal government would invest an extra $150 million in annual funding to the financially beleaguered public broadcaster.

“We look forward to working with a new, non-partisan team that will be committed to championing public broadcasting and not destroying it,” Carmel Smyth, president of the Canadian Media Guild, told the Star.