Telus delivers New Year gut punch to Canadian businesses, communities

BURNABY, B.C. – The Canadian economy has received a New Year’s gut punch from telecommunications giant Telus, with the company announcing another round of voluntary severance packages (VSPs) as part of a decade-long decimation of its Canadian workforce.

Telus, which has eliminated thousands of jobs across Canada over the last several years, has offered nearly 700 more VSPs to its Canadian workers, including to more than 500 members of the United Steelworkers union (USW). The latest job cuts are targeting workers in Telus Business Solutions operations in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec, said Michael Phillips, President of USW Local 1944, which represents some 4,000 Telus employees. Workers receiving VSP offers have less than two weeks – until Jan. 21 – to make their decisions.

“Further workforce reductions at Telus will hurt communities and the Canadian economy, and will only exacerbate Canadians’ growing dissatisfaction with the service they’re receiving from telecommunications companies,” Phillips said. Complaints from Telus customers to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services rose by 62% in 2025 compared to 2024, he noted.

“Canadians are not happy with the quality of service they’re getting at the moment, and Telus cutting jobs is not going to help,” he said.

The Canadian government, which regulates operators in the telecommunications sector across the country, has done little to curtail the erosion of jobs or address the growing concerns over service standards, Phillips said.

“The federal government keeps saying we have a productivity problem in Canada. They should be ensuring higher telecom services standards for business, rather than standing by as companies like Telus cut business services,” he said.

The USW and its labour and political allies will continue to lobby the federal government to protect Canadian jobs and the integrity of Canada’s national telecom infrastructure, Phillips added.

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.