BURNABY, B.C. – Telus and the Telecommunications Workers Union met briefly today for further negotiations, but union president Bruce Bell expressed disappointment at the results of the meeting in a press release.
"We put a detailed counter-proposal on the table last week to get Telus to engage in substantive negotiations," Bell said. "Despite that, Telus walked away from the bargaining table."
"It was evident they were only interested in forcing us to put their offer to our members for a vote," he continued. "The union is ready and willing to bargain with Telus. But the company must address our…
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VANCOUVER – Telus today announced the re-naming of a building to honor its chairman Brian Canfield.
Currently the chair of the company’s board of directors, Canfield joined BC Tel as an apprentice installer in 1956 and progressed through the ranks before becoming president and COO in 1989. In 1990, he became president and CEO and in 1993 he was chairman and CEO.
Following his retirement in 1997, Canfield retained the position of chairman of BC Tel and following the merger with Alberta’s Telus, he became chairman of the newly formed Telus Corporation. Canfield also served as interim president and…
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VANCOUVER – It took two days for Telus to reject the latest Telecommunications Workers Union’s (TWU) proposal, after it took the union two months to respond to the last Telus offer.
Telus said this afternoon the TWU’s proposal is “entirely devoid of any meaningful movement toward a resolution of this matter and even widens the gap in a number of key areas,” says the Telus press release.
The company went on to say that, “for four and a half years, the TWU has refused to accept what is obvious to Telus, its employees, its customers and its shareholders: the…
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OTTAWA – When it does launch its digital television service, Telus doesn’t want to jump through the Commission’s hoops every time it needs to make a competitive move to match Shaw, the western telco has told the CRTC.
Telus needs to be competitively nimble, so to have to ask the Commission for permission to make certain programming additions or alterations poses problems, it says, because it won’t be able to respond in a timely enough manner in its markets.
When contacted by www.cartt.ca today, and asked about the application, which was filed on December 13, 2004 and only made…
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BURNABY – The Telecommunications Workers Union announced Wednesday that it will table a comprehensive response to all of the major issues that have been raised by Telus.
At the same time, union president Bruce Bell will send a personal letter to Telus president and CEO Darren Entwistle, asking him to “free his bargaining committee to engage in serious bargaining,” says the union press release.
The union is undertaking the two moves as part of its attempt to kick-start the stalled negotiating process, which has led to accusations and a work-to-rule campaign by the workers right after Telus…
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BURNABY, B.C – "For 4 1/2 years, we have tried everything imaginable to get Telus to bargain with us, but they have refused to budge," opens the latest press release salvo from Telecommunications Workers Union president Bruce Bell.
"Starting today, we’re trying a different approach. As of (Monday) morning, the union is initiating a campaign that combines working-to-rule with providing super service to customers," Bell continued.
Reading through the litany (below) of musts for TWU members now would be pretty funny, if it weren’t such a serious issue. It seems Telus’ union employees will now be busy topping up…
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VANCOUVER – Saying it wants to accelerate the resolution of its union negotiations, Telus today made “an addendum” to its last offer to its B.C. workers.
The offer was presented to the Telecommunications Workers Union on April 13th and the addendum clarifies some of the clauses, said the western telco today. "We continue to do everything we can to reach a settlement that benefits our employees, customers and shareholders," said Darren Entwistle, Telus president and CEO, in a news release.
"We have made these adjustments to expedite settlement of a replacement collective agreement. Our offer is generous, provides job…
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BURNABY, B.C. – The latest changes proposed by Telus to its final offer made to its employees are “an insult to all members of the TWU, especially those in predominately female job classifications," said Telecommunications Workers Union president Bruce Bell.
"This is an insult to members of the bargaining unit. It includes an offer of an additional $8,000 in signing bonuses for approximately 1,500 predominantly male craft employees in Alberta and an additional percentage increase to most of craft employees in British Columbia and Alberta. But there is nothing by way of a comparable increase for members in…
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SAN ANTONIO – There were no official numbers at press time but boy, it sure seems real crowded here at the SCTE Cable-Tec Expo – a good thing for the vendors, who filled every open space this year.
Here’s a bit of what www.cartt.ca heard and saw today. ************** This morning’s CTO session was interesting on a number of levels. The panelists were Tony Werner, senior vice-president and CTO Liberty Media, (and also a former Rogers CTO), Mike Hayashi, senior v-p advance engineering and subscriber technology at Time Warner Cable, Paul Woidke, vice-president technology for Comcast Spotlight, and…
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TORONTO – So what’s it like going from one side to another, is what people often want to know from Janet Yale.
She spent four years as president and CEO of the CCTA (Canadian Cable Television Association ) before bolting to Telus in late summer 2003 and is now executive vice-president, corporate affairs. Yale (right) tries not to see her move from one side to another, and draws similarities between cable and telecom.
However, while each are facilities-based providers, cable and telecom are clearly at each others’ throats right…
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