Nearly 150 Steelworkers set to lose jobs as Telus announces Ontario call centre closures
12 July 2024 - 2:41PM
Telus Corp. has informed some 150 unionized call centre employees
based in Ontario that they must relocate to Montreal by October or
have their employment terminated with a severance package.
The United Steelworkers union (USW) Local 1944, representing the
Ontario call centre workers, said it was informed Tuesday that
affected employees would be given this stark choice, calling it a
“backdoor termination” by Telus aimed at reducing its
workforce.
Telus announced a larger internal reorganization on Wednesday,
affecting approximately 1,000 call centre workers nationwide who
have been working remotely since the onset of the COVID-19
pandemic. The company announced that, starting in September, these
workers will be required to return to the office three days a
week.
“The financial package includes one month of wages per year of
seniority, up to 18 months of wages, plus possible bonuses based on
seniority,” said Michael Phillips, USW Local 1944 president.
Phillips criticized Telus’ offer to its Ontario workers,
describing the offer as “disingenuous.”
“Telus is well aware that many employees aren’t going to be able
to move provinces, so we see this as essentially a disingenuous
backdoor termination of 150 employees with Telus just sending their
work overseas as they have for years,” said Phillips. “At this
point, Telus now functions as a foreign telecommunications company,
with a workforce exceeding 80,000 workers internationally.”
Phillips asserts the union is looking into its legal options,
saying there was “virtually no notice” that the work-from-home
model in place since 2020 would change.
“It’s heartless for Telus to expect 150 employees and their
families to uproot themselves from Ontario to Montreal. This isn’t
an office closure due to lack of work, it’s a demand for a physical
presence in another province forcing workers to take a severance
package. It’s time for Justin Trudeau’s government to wake up to
stop big corporations like Telus from this type of callous
behaviour,” said Phillips.
About the United Steelworkers union
The USW represents 225,000 members in nearly every economic
sector across Canada and is the largest private-sector union in
North America, with 850,000 members in Canada, the United States
and the Caribbean. Each year, thousands of workers choose to join
the USW because of the union’s strong track record in creating
healthier, safer and more respectful workplaces and negotiating
better working conditions and fairer compensation – including good
wages, benefits and pensions.
For more information:
Michael Phillips, USW Local 1944 President,
michael.phillips@usw1944.ca, 604-818-7466Jayson Little, USW Staff
Representative, jlittle@usw.ca, 778-837-3584