MONTREAL – The Canadian Telecommunications Employees’ Association said Monday it is "appalled at Bell Canada’s announcement of their decision to outsource jobs to a company that is offshore."
The union which represents 14,000 employees said in a press release that "Bell Canada has chosen to follow the economic path instead of the patriotic one with their decision to send offshore 5% of the calls that currently are being handled by call centres within the BCE family or other firms in Canada."
The release didn’t say where or when Bell made the announcement and a web search revealed no official announcement from the telco. An e-mail requesting further information from the union has not yet been returned.
"This decision is evidence that the company does not acknowledge the huge concessions members of the CTEA made during a ratification vote last summer. Members begrudgingly accepted these concessions with the promise that there would not be any job losses, directly or indirectly, to their membership due to outsourcing," continues the CTEA release.
"Bell Canada already outsources jobs at an alarming rate to lower paid workers within Canada. As if that was not enough, Bell Canada says it will now outsource to call centres overseas."
"(O)nce again our members will see this as a further erosion to job security and job opportunities," said Brenda Knight, union president.
This decision comes in addition to the announcement made in February 2006 that BCE would eliminate between 3000 – 4000 jobs as a cost controlling measure in the coming year. The CTEA has yet to be told how many of these jobs cuts will directly affect our membership, concludes the release.
