MONTREAL – This morning the General Council of the Canadian Telecommunications Employees’ Association (CTEA) supported a merger agreement concluded last week between their organization and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP).
During the next few weeks, the merger agreement will be voted on by all CTEA members. Vote results will be announced on October 15.
The CTEA represents 12,000 clerical and sales employees in Québec and in Ontario working directly at Bell or in related companies. CEP represents over 12,000 technicians, operators and clerical employees at Bell and its related companies. The CEP already represents 35,000 communications employees throughout Canada. With this merger, the Union will now have 47,000 members in this sector, which will make it by far the most important communications’ Union in Canada.
“We are confident that our members will approve this important agreement,” said CTEA president, Brenda Knight, in a release. "If the merger becomes effective, it means that all the different unionized groups of employees at Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Expertech, Bell Technical Solutions, Télébec and the numerous other companies owned and controlled by Bell will from now on be represented by the same Union. There is no doubt that this merger will be a turning point in the history of labour relations at Bell Canada."
"This proposed merger represents a new era in solidarity and strength in negotiations for workers in the telecommunications sector," added Dave Coles, CEP President. "It is quite properly subject now to a democratic vote of CTEA members and I am confident they will join with all other telephone workers to fight issues like outsourcing of our jobs and broader issues like the foreign takeover of our industry."
“After 31 years of cohabitation, we will finally be able to join our efforts, resources and expertise to tackle the numerous challenges we are confronted with,” said CEP’s Ontario Administrative Vice-President, John Edwards. "This merger is one of the most important to happen in the labour movement in Canada and it is the largest between Telecommunications’ Unions."
In a situation where the telecommunication sector is in constant evolution and with the arrival of new owners acquiring Bell, "it is clear that the merger of our Unions will ensure a better representation for our members,” added Knight. "After all the efforts we made, at last we now have the means to deal with a situation which was not to the advantage of either one of our organizations.”
