Telus Workers Begin Strike

12:41 am on July 22, 2005 | Category: Business, Telecom Services

Thousands of employees of Telus Corp, from across British Columbia and Alberta set up picket lines today, in opposition to the company’s plans to impose a contract on its unionized workers.

Although Telus (Canada’s second largest phone company) has “implemented a comprehensive contingency plan to maintain service”, there is no doubt that, if not resolved quickly, this dispute with workers will ultimately cause difficulty for customers, and be detrimental to the company’s shareholders.

The president of the union, Bruce Bell told reporters that managers were “threatening, browbeating, and intimidating” workers, although Telus claims that they have bargained in good faith, while treating the unionized employees in a fair and respectful manner.

The new contract proposed by Telus includes generous pay raises of two percent annually for five years, making their employees among the best paid telecommunications professionals in Canada, but workers are not satisfied. They claim that the real battle is over job security, and that Telus has not addressed this issue sufficiently in the new contract.

Last year, Aliant, Atlantic Canada’s main telephone company, went on strike for almost five months when neither side was willing to move towards an agreement. In this situation, customers and shareholders alike can only hope that both parties are willing to work together in search of a speedy resolution. Otherwise everyone involved will be in for a very difficult few months.

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    1. Damn the Telus workers! :-P

      Did you hear about the truckers/port dudes who were striking in Vancouver, and the ones who didn’t strike, had their trucks shot at? What a bunch of crazy truckers :P

      Comment by Massimiliano — July 23, 2005 #

    2. Well, no shooting yet in this one, but the strike’s still going strong. And when there’s unions involved, you never know what might happen. ;)

      Comment by Jeremy — July 24, 2005 #

    3. […] Other positive news for Telus includes the fact that aproximately 70% of their unionized workers are now ignoring the strike, which began on July 21, and have gone back to work. This, along with the positive financial results should help boost investor confidence in the company over the coming weeks. […]

      Pingback by Telecommunications Industry News » Telus Profits Up 10% in Second Quarter — August 5, 2005 #

    4. If it weren’t for unions, none of us would have 2 consecutive days off! Think about it well!

      Comment by Frank — August 29, 2005 #

    5. Yes, you have a point there; unions do have their good side (however small). But they also have a tendency to take things way too far, and create more problems than they solve at times.

      Comment by Jeremy — September 1, 2005 #

    6. […] Among rising tensions in the increasing ugly labour dispute between Telus and the Telecommunications Workers Union, British Columbia’s supreme court has passed judgement ordering striking union members to stop “molesting, assaulting, intimidating, obstructing, threatening, or interfering with” those employees who are reporting to work. […]

      Pingback by Telecommunications Industry News » Striking Telus Workers Ordered to Stop Harassment — September 12, 2005 #

    7. […] The Telecommunications Workers Union has, at long last, come to a tentative contract agreement with their employer, Telus. The agreement was arrived at late on Sunday night, and will likely put an end to the Telus strike, which has now been going on for close to three months. […]

      Pingback by Telus Reaches Agreement with Striking Workers » Telecommunications Industry News — October 11, 2005 #

    8. […] Three weeks ago, on October 10, it appeared that striking workers at Telus were finally satisfied by their employer’s contract proposal. But now, after much dragging of heels, they’ve once again changed their minds. […]

      Pingback by Telus Workers Reject Contract Proposal » Telecommunications Industry News — October 31, 2005 #

    9. i’m doing a project it be nice if they listed information on the indutry {telus}

      Comment by lariza — May 28, 2006 #

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