USW joins global network to demand Telus respect its employees and their rights

USW Local 1944 joined a Steelworkers Humanity Fund delegation to Izmir, Turkey, in August, to meet Telus workers who received government certification of their union a year ago. Telus still refuses to recognize the union. The workers are employed as content moderators for TikTok and are paid barely above the minimum wage in Turkey.

Over the course of this worker-to-worker exchange focusing on labour rights education, the Telus workers in Turkey described the challenges of organizing in the global ‘Business Process Outsourcing’ industry.

Telus is primarily known in Canada as a provider of phone and internet services. Yet alongside rivals including Teleperformance and Concentrix, it also employs thousands of workers around the world to provide content moderation and to train Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the world’s big tech companies including Google and Meta.

As in Turkey, these jobs are typically paid at the minimum wage and can involve viewing disturbing images including violence and sexual abuse for hours a day. Minimal support is provided for workers whose mental health is affected. Instead, they are pressured to meet high metrics or risk losing their jobs. 

Meanwhile, in Canada, over the past decade, Telus has continuously downsized and outsourced thousands of jobs, while subjecting its employees to high-pressure work metrics and digital surveillance. Participants from Local 1944 at the international meeting described how the union is organizing to confront these challenges.

“It was incredible to meet these very courageous Telus workers in Turkey, fighting an uphill battle against the company to have their union recognized,” said Local 1944 President Michael Phillips.

“We found a lot of common ground in our discussions, as Telus intensely pressurizes its workers, with little regard for mental safety, both in Turkey and in Canada. It was great to strengthen the bond of global solidarity between our two unions and we’ll be working very closely together with our Turkish sisters and brothers in our common struggles with this employer.”

In co-operation with UNI, the global union federation for service-sector workers, the meeting’s participants joined a network of unions to call on Telus to engage in dialogue in order to:

1. Fully recognize the right to organize and to bargain collectively in every country where the company operates, without interference, in accordance with the core conventions of the International Labour Organization (ILO). Telus will abide by collective agreements in good faith. Telus will not engage in anti-union behaviour.
2. Establish effective and transparent procedures for resolving labour conflicts, through genuine dialogue and in good faith, avoiding any form of retaliation or repression against union activity.
3. Guarantee common minimum labour standards, including protection of physical and mental health, psychologically reasonable work metrics, decent wages, fair working conditions, job security and employment stability.
4. Protect union members from any form of discrimination or retaliation, ensuring they are free to organize, represent and negotiate on behalf of their co-workers.

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