VANCOUVER – Telecommunications Workers Union president Bruce Bell told CKNW radio host Bill Good yesterday that Telus employees will strike on Friday.
That’s the date Telus said it would unilaterally impose its latest, last, contract offer on its workers, whether their union approves or not.
After four and a half long years without a contract (and without a raise for employees) Telus is fed up, vice-president of corporate affairs Drew McArthur told www.cartt.ca Wednesday.
The union has simply refused to budge, not even putting Telus’ contract offer to a vote among its members. Telus first tabled the offer in January of 2004. It then sweetened it a bit and re-tabled it this past April. The deal calls for job security for all employees and builds in raised of between 2% and 3% annually for five years, among other things.
The Telus proposal gives the company more flexibility to contract work out as well and that is what the union objects to.
“We have a very generous contract that compares very favourably to others,” adds McArthur, pointing to a recently ratified Bell contract which actually froze wages for nearly half of its workers.
“Our offer is a reasonable offer by any stretch,” added McArthur. “The union needs to move out of their antiquated position from when BCTel was a monopoly.”
The TWU did not return a call from www.cartt.ca for comment. The strike will affect all Telus unionized employees in B.C. and Alberta.
“What the union does not recognize is that Telus is in a hotly competitive market,” McArthur continued, pointing to the inroads Shaw Communications is making in telephony in Calgary and Edmonton.
“I fully expect (Shaw) to ramp up their efforts in B.C. and that is of grave concern to us – and frankly that is an excellent reason as to why we need the flexibility we need and why we need it now and why we’re taking the steps we are,” he said.
“Shaw actually has a contract with the TWU that has greater flexibility than the one that they would have us sign,” McArthur added.
As for Telus TV, the residential digital IPTV service the company has been planning for some time but has been unable to launch, partly due to its labor issues? It will continue to wait, added McArthur.
“Quite frankly, it will be all hands on deck now trying to deliver services to customers.
“To the extent that we can, we’ll still want to move our technical work forward on Telus TV,” he added.
– Greg O’Brien
