The following statement was issued today by the United Steelworkers union (USW), regarding union-busting by Telus in Turkiye:
TORONTO – The United Steelworkers (USW) urges Canadian authorities to insist Telus, a Canadian corporation with its head office in Vancouver, respect the rights of its employees overseas.
In August 2024, employees at Telus subsidiary Telus Digital in Turkiye, received formal recognition of their union, Cagri-Is Sendikasi, from the Turkish government, after it certified that Cagri-Is had met the required membership threshold. Telus has refused to recognize the union. Instead, it has filed legal objections and fired 15 of its employees who were publicly known to be supporters of Cagri-Is.
The USW represents over 4,000 Telus employees in Canada and strongly supports the labour rights of Telus workers worldwide. The USW has previously expressed its concerns directly to Telus regarding its treatment of workers in Turkiye. On Jan. 14, 2025, the USW wrote to the Canadian ambassador to Turkiye, Kevin Hamilton, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Labour and International Trade, asking Canadian authorities to intercede with Telus concerning its abuse of labour rights in Turkiye.
The Cagri-Is union has regularly demonstrated outside the company’s offices in Turkiye, calling for the reinstatement of the fired workers and for Telus to recognize the union and negotiate. Workers report that Telus is increasing its pressure on workers by denying breaks and issuing adverse performance reviews. Workers at Telus in Turkiye perform content moderation for social media giant TikTok, and are regularly exposed to extremely disturbing graphic materials.
A spokesperson for the Cagri-Is union explained:
“Telus Turkey workers unionized due to pressures such as falling wages, workplace harassment and increasing workload. We know very well that Telus is turning to countries like Turkey to get rid of USW members in Canada and to employ non-unionized workers. We, under the leadership of the workers of Telus Turkey, are stopping their assaults. We know that gaining our union rights will be an achievement both for workers in Turkey and for workers in Canada and other countries. This is why we cannot give up. We are determined to continue until we get our union rights.”
USW National Director for Canada Marty Warren stated:
“It is completely unacceptable for Telus to engage in union-busting in Turkiye, Canada, or anywhere else in the world. Our union will support these brave workers however we can, and we urge the Canadian government to step forward and insist that Telus do the right thing.”
The USW is the largest private-sector trade union in North America, representing 850,000 members, including more than 225,000 members in Canada, with thousands employed in the telecommunications sector.
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