VANCOUVER – The Telecommunications Workers Union held a press conference in Vancouver today decrying Telus’ moves to outsource jobs overseas.
Saying it’s "alarmed at the ongoing loss of hundreds of Canadian jobs to the Philippines and other overseas locations," the union also tried to raise the anxiety level of Telus customers by adding it has "grave concerns about customer privacy issues based on the fact that workers outside Canadian jurisdiction are accessing customer records.
On June 18, Telus shipped forty more Canadian jobs to Manila, says the union. "By year’s end, 200 Filipino workers will be fielding calls from Telus Mobility cell phone customers across Canada. These calls had previously been answered exclusively by Canadian service representatives in B.C., Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. On June 20, the Union learned that Telus was shipping even more work overseas, including business billing inquiries," says the TWU release.
"After the labour dispute in 2005, Telus assured us it would not outsource any more Canadian jobs to India or the Philippines," said George Doubt, president of the TWU. "Yet the company has continued to redirect customers’ calls to workers abroad. They don’t publicize it because they know customers will be concerned when they discover their personal and business phone records are being accessed in foreign countries."
"Customers are suffering because of deteriorating service," claimed Doubt, "yet Telus is taking jobs away from qualified Canadian workers and sending them to unskilled, poorly-paid workers overseas. In addition to the issue of jobs, we’re concerned about the lack of privacy rights. Canada has stringent laws governing access to private customer information. Consumers have reason to be concerned about who has access to their personal phone records, and who they’re talking to when they give out credit card numbers and billing information over the phone."
