VANCOUVER – Telus announced this morning that it will unilaterally implement its latest offer of contract settlement with its workers.
The comprehensive collective agreement, tabled with the Telecommunications Workers Union on April 13, 2005 and the addendum tabled on June 14, 2005 will take effect as of July 22, 2005, said the company.
That apparently answers the question of what it thinks of the offer of mediation by Labour Minister Joe Fontana.
"Given the escalation of job action by the union and its continuing refusal to consider placing the offer before its membership for a ratification vote, Telus concluded that this significant step is necessary to ensure that the TWU and our bargaining unit team members address our comprehensive offer of settlement," said Darren Entwistle, Telus president and CEO in a release. "It is time to bring this matter to a positive conclusion for all stakeholders; our bargaining unit team members have been without a contract for four and half years."
Today’s announcement comes after the implementation of a progressive set of lockout measures designed to encourage a settlement. These measures have not involved the closure of any Telus offices, and do not affect general operations or service to our customers.
"We believe our offer is generous and would make our team members amongst the best-paid telecommunications employees in Canada. Our offer provides job security for our team members and gives us the flexibility we need to be successful in an increasingly competitive and changing marketplace," added Entwistle.
However, it’s that flexibility that the union fears. As with most unions, they do not like much talk of contracting out and that has been the major sticking point between Telus and the TWU so far. It has quickly shot down all Telus offers, including the most recent one.
The contract implementation, however, will not include the lump sum signing bonus contained in the Telus offer, which will only become payable following ratification of the comprehensive offer of settlement.
There is no change to the financial guidance that has been previously communicated by Telus concerning the impact of the proposed new collective agreement with the TWU, the company told shareholders.
