TORONTO - A lawyer for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers told a court Tuesday that the union does not have enough money to afford "effective" legal representation during the restructuring of Canwest Global Communications.

Doug Wray of CaleyWray, the law firm hired by the one of the country's biggest unions, asked Justice Sarah Pepall to grant financial help to pay for its lawyers.

"Without a representative order and funding... this group will not receive effective representation," he said during proceedings at a Toronto court.

Wray told the court the CEP has lost 12,000 members over the last year as companies it represents folded or slashed their workforces to contend with the economic downturn.

Other charges are also hitting the them hard, Wray said, particularly the bills for an array of other legal actions. The union is one of a small number of groups that does not have its legal fees covered in the restructuring process.

However, Wray told the court that the CEP would still be able to afford lawyers without the extra money, but he believes they wouldn't be as effectively represented.

The discussions were part of the second court appearance on Canwest's restructuring, which is expected to stretch until at least the end of January.

Canwest lawyer Lyndon Barnes disagreed with the union's take and told the judge that he believes it's the union's responsibility to provide sufficient funding for their own legal actions.

Barnes said bringing on more lawyers to deal with separate groups of severed employees would further complicate the proceedings and could risk delays to the restructuring.

"This process has certain milestones," Barnes said. "This is an aggressive schedule to try and adhere to the restructuring" deadlines.

The hearing was intended to focus on how former staff for the Winnipeg-based media giant would be handled during the process.

Severance payments were essentially halted when Canwest filed for creditor protection and former workers will have to line up with all others who are owed money by Canwest to make a claim.

Pepall is expected to release her decision by Wednesday afternoon.

Earlier this month, Canwest filed for creditor protection for parts of its business, including its conventional television assets and the National Post Company, after it was unable to meet financial covenants associated with its debt.

Canwest has struggled with $4 billion in corporate debt, built up mostly in its acquisition of the former Southam newspaper business once controlled by disgraced publishing baron Conrad Black and the acquisition of Alliance Atlantis' specialty channels in 2007.

As part of the process, former employees were essentially locked out of their future severance payments, which means they will have to file a claim for money owed, which can take months or longer to come through.

After filing for creditor protection, Canwest requested that $9.8 million in bonus payments be set aside for what it considered key employees, in order to keep them from leaving the company.

None of the worker's names were disclosed, and their individual payments were not specified.

Contrary to media reports earlier in the day, former Canwest workers did not assemble outside the courtroom as their payments were being discussed inside.

A silent vigil was held by former employees of Progressive Moulded Products who say their employer owes them $30 million in severance and termination pay from when the company closed its 11 plants and laid of 2,400 workers last year.

The former PMP staff held the vigil to draw attention to bankruptcy and severance laws which have also locked them out of their scheduled payments.

However, the vigil was unassociated with Canwest's court appearance, and lawyers for PMP were appearing in a separate courtroom for their own claims process. The timing seemed to trigger some confusion about who they were supporting.

A lawyer for the ad hoc committee in Canwest's restructuring process vaguely referred to the protest outside when he told the court about stress sometimes placed on former employees, contributing further to the confusion.

Employees are low on the priority list of unsecured creditors, which means they're one of the last to receive money, after bondholders and other corporate organizations.

On Friday, Canwest is scheduled to appear in court to face a deadline for the planned transfer of the National Post to a division that owns the company's other newspapers.