BURNABY, B.C – A mere 54 votes came between acceptance and rejection of a new labour agreement between Telus and the Telecommunications Workers Union.
The workers voted 4,540 to 4,487 against the deal its bargaining committee agreed to with the western telco on October 9th, the union announced Sunday evening (the press release was entitled “The struggle continues”).
The TWU’s executive council voted earlier to endorse the committee’s recommendation of acceptance of the settlement package, “believing that it was the best deal that could be achieved under the circumstances,” said the union
A bare majority of the workers who voted felt otherwise.
"A majority of our members have voted to reject the tentative agreement. This was the membership’s decision to make," said TWU president Bruce Bell. "We accept that decision and will resume the struggle for an agreement that better addresses their concerns."
TWU members walked off the job July 21 when Telus said it would impose its final offer on its employees.
It’s unclear where the company and the union goes from here, given that thousands didn’t bother to vote (there were 9,027 ballots cast of about 14,000 workers represented, a 65% turnout) and the split was so narrow.
Bell stressed that the union will focus on engaging members in increasing the pressure on Telus. "At the same time, we will approach the company to get them back to the bargaining table," he said.
Forget it, said Telus. It’s got no plans to go back to bargaining, it said in a release tonight.
“The fact that the ratification process has failed to bring a positive conclusion to our labour disruption can only be described as very disappointing,” said a statement from Telus CEO Darren Entwistle.
“The negotiated agreement recommended by the union leadership makes our unionized team members the best paid telecommunications employees in Canada and provides them with guaranteed, best in class employment security. Telus, our managers and the 6,000 unionized team members in Alberta and Central and Eastern Canada who have continued working will now return the entirety of our focus to our alternative operations plan, and the significant progress we are making toward delivering service excellence to our customers,” continued the release.
“I want to express my sincere appreciation to our working team members and our customers for their ongoing support during this challenging period.”
The release concluded by saying: “There are no plans to return to the bargaining table following this development.”
