TORONTO – 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.
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