TORONTO – On Friday, Oct. 31, over 100 workers in telecommunications will lose their jobs at Ericsson, when the company moves these jobs to India in the middle of workers’ efforts to gain job security through union representation.
“Right now, the workers who operate our communications network are being abandoned by their government. Doug Ford must step up now, before Oct. 31… Let’s stop the layoffs and let’s protect good jobs,” said Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition.
“These jobs are being offshored at the expense of our workers as well as the security of our province and our country. It’s about giving up control of the very technology that keeps us connected,” said Laura Walton, President of the Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL).
“This is not only the offshoring of our economy, but the offshoring of our privacy and of our national security. Unlike the Stellantis closure in Brampton, these jobs aren’t being taken from us by coercion from other nations; we’re giving these jobs away. This is a Made-in-Canada problem, and one that can be solved through government action,” said Michael Phillips, President of United Steelworkers (USW) National Local 1944.
The Ericsson technicians operate and maintain the back-end infrastructure of the Rogers wireless network. During the campaign to unionize, Ericsson announced these workers would be laid off and their jobs would move to India.
To make matters worse, telecommunications jobs are federally regulated. Yet, when USW Local 1944 filed federally to represent these workers as their union, Ericsson opposed the application, claiming the workers are under provincial jurisdiction.
In Question Period today, Jamie West, MPP for Sudbury and Shadow Minister of Labour, asked Ontario Premier Doug Ford to call on Ericsson and Rogers to protect these workers and their jobs before it’s too late.
Watch the Oct. 27 media conference at Queen’s Park:
Ontario NDP Fight for Good Union Jobs – Presser – Oct 27.25 – YouTube
Broadcast and Recording Service, Legislative Assembly of Ontario
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.
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