Union blasts Telus for devastating job cuts and federal government for failing Canadian workers

MONTREAL / TORONTO / VANCOUVER – After months of speculation, Telus has finally revealed this morning how many jobs it intends to cut, delivering a devastating blow to good jobs, working people and their families and the communities where they live, says the United Steelworkers union (USW). Telus will cut 6,000 jobs, including 4,000 here in Canada.

“Telus has been deceptive to its workforce and to Canadians more generally,” said USW Local 1944 President Donna Hokiro, representing close to 7,000 members who work at Rogers/Shaw, TELUS and other telecommunications-related companies.

“Telus has been eroding good Canadian jobs at a dramatic rate for the last decade, with no end in sight. Corporate executives have been more concerned about their reputation than the truth or their responsibility to Canadian consumers.”

In June when the union called out Telus for cutting jobs, Telus swiftly rebutted, claiming jobs were not being cut as they were being reduced through attrition via Voluntary Severance Packages.

In December 2022, Telus threatened litigation in response to a series of ads sponsored by the union during collective bargaining, highlighting Telus’ historic and ongoing job cuts, contrasted by the exorbitant executive compensation of the CEO.

In light of pending job cuts, USW National Director Marty Warren and Hokiro called on the federal government to make all current and future contracts with Telus contingent upon maintaining domestic jobs, otherwise urged suspending the contracts.

“Telus has benefited from procurement contracts worth billions of dollars with the federal government and provincial governments in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec among other jurisdictions, with governments never once tying contracts to continued local jobs,” said Warren. “This has been deeply irresponsible and we are seeing the fall-out from that today.”

Today’s news also comes in light of damning second-quarter results, after a number of very profitable years. “It is grossly unjust that working people are paying the most for poor corporate decision-making and bungling leadership,” said Warren. “We see this right across the economy, including here at Telus.”

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 our 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.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter