BURNABY, B.C. – The B.C. division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees is cutting Telus out of its life.
The largest union in the province, with 70,000 members, has begun negotiations with other telecommunications providers to replace the division office’s land line, Internet and mobile phone services.
The move is a direct response to the strike at the telco by the Telecommunication Workers Union (TWU). It makes CUPE the first union in Canada to launch a full-scale boycott of Telus products.
“We can no longer have ourselves in a position where we as a union are being serviced…
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VANCOUVER – An audit done August 31st for Telus by accounting firm Ernst & Young shows that the majority of the company’s unionized workers are on the job, despite the strike called by the Telecommunications Workers Union.
The E&Y procedures show that 2,880 Alberta based unionized employees were active on the Telus payroll system, which represented 52.6% of Alberta bargaining unit employees. This is up from August 16, 2005, where 2,715 Alberta based unionized employees were active, or 48.8% of the Alberta bargaining unit employees.
It also shows that the longer a labour dispute drags on, the higher the…
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TORONTO – Rogers and Bell may have had the press releases out first this year, but Telus Mobility is the first to market with mobile TV – video to cell phones.
Telus Mobility today launched Telus mobile TV, offering clients across Canada real-time access to live television programming including news, weather and shopping channels on their wireless phones.
Both Rogers and Bell made announcements earlier this year that the service was coming soon (those releases anticipated the service would be in the market by now from both companies), powered by MobiTV, but both companies say technical issues has…
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TORONTO – Telus today announced the launch of CallCentreAnywhere, its new contract multimedia contact centre.
Billing it as “a full-featured, on-demand IP contact centre solution that eliminates capital costs, cuts operating costs by 50 per cent, and greatly reduces the technical complexity of implementing and supporting a multimedia contact centre,” Telus has already secured more than $12 million in contracts from this.
"Telus is committed to offering integrated solutions that give our customers a competitive advantage in the market," said Joe Natale, president, Telus Business Solutions, in a release.
"CallCentreAnywhere changes the dynamics of call centres and is attracting…
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WINNIPEG – Business travelers on their way into our out of Winnipeg can now get Wi-Fi in the provincial capital’s airport.
Telus and the Winnipeg Airports Authority today announced a new data and voice initiative at Winnipeg International Airport that includes a managed wireless local area network (WLAN) and public Wi-Fi services for travelers, the Winnipeg Airports Authority, and airport tenants.
The new services expand wireless data capabilities throughout the airport, providing tenants, employees and travelers with high-speed access to the Internet and other data networks throughout the facility.
"This level of wireless connectivity will benefit our businesses and…
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EDMONTON – According to the Telecommunication Workers Union (TWU) and the B.C. and Alberta Federations of Labour, four Calgary radio stations refuse to run radio spots in support of locked-out Telus workers. The radio campaign calls on customers to disconnect from Telus.
The 30-second radio spots, which start today, will run four-to-five times daily in Edmonton, Fort McMurray and throughout B.C. It’s considered a “heavy rotation,” notes Alberta Federation of Labour (AFL) President Gil McGowan, of the three week campaign, with a substantial budget of over $250,000 ($120,000 going for Alberta placement).
The four radio stations allegedly refusing to…
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BURNABY – While Telus says that more than half of its unionized employees are crossing the picket lines, the Telecommunications Workers Union says that’s not so.
"It appears that Telus is trying to damage our morale with these statements, but their ploy isn’t working," said TWU president Bruce Bell in a release.
"Since the beginning of this dispute, I’ve been saying that we have the support of 86% of our members. That’s the percentage that voted ‘yes’ when we conducted our strike vote last year. Now we can offer a precise estimate of the number of members who are…
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BURNABY – While the second quarter press release still intimated Telus may not launch its terrestrial digital television service, CEO Darren Entwistle told financial analysts today in a conference call that Telus TV’s launch is a matter of when, not if.
The when will come once the company’s labour problem is finalized. While the company has imposed its latest contract offer after 4.5 years of going without a contract with its workers, the union called a general strike.
Today, the company said 70% of its unionized workers nationally are still coming in to work and that the two sides will…
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VANCOUVER – A strong performance by the company’s wireless division helped lead Telus Corporation to strong revenue and income growth in the second quarter of 2005, ended June 30th.
Consolidated operating revenues in the quarter came in at $2 billion, up 8% from a year ago while operating income was up 24%. Earnings per share for the second quarter were 53 cents, up 10% compared from Q2 2004 and net income was $189.5 million, a 10% increase.
While praising the company’s results Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle also addressed the current strike by its employees in British Columbia…
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VANCOUVER – In a decision rendered late Wednesday, the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta issued an interim order that addresses the concerns that led to Telus disabling access to the www.voices-for-change.com web site.
Telus had blocked the union-supported site from view of any of its Internet subscribers.
According to a Telus press release, the Alberta Court order prohibits the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) and its members and anyone else having knowledge of the order from posting for public viewing on any website any photographs or identifying features with the intent of intimidating or threatening Telus employees, contractors,…
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