OTTAWA – The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union, which represents many workers at Bell Canada, said Wednesday it will oppose plans by the company to create an income trust which would provide telephone service in rural Ontario and Quebec.
A CEP press release said it is concerned that the move will jeopardize universal, affordable phone service in a huge segment of the country, although it did not way why it had arrived at this position or how.
BCE CEO Michael Sabia, however, reiterated many times during the company’s Business Review Conference on Wednesday that the company plans to retain control of the new rural income trust – which will contain 1.6 million lines in Quebec and Ontario (the biggest city being Sudbury) and called it “a key strategic asset,” to the parent company.
The income trust move will raise funds and result in cost-savings for BCE, among other benefits.
CEP vice-president John Edwards also condemned the company’s announcement that BCE will cut up to 4,000 jobs in the coming year.
"The total package revealed by Bell and BCE today sends a strong message to its workers and subscribers that the company has a decreasing interest in maintaining first class, universal and affordable phone service," Edwards said in a statement.
"Our members’ interests and those of consumers coincide. We think that the CRTC needs to consider the broader public good first and foremost which means that worker and consumer interests need to be protected."
The union stressed that creation of the income trust will take a while “and it will monitor the approval and regulatory process very closely at the same time as building coalitions with community and coalition groups to protect the interests of all stakeholders,” says the press release.
"While it appears on the surface that our members’ employment and working conditions will not change under any new management structure, we have a long term concern about job stability and service levels in what amounts to 15% of Bell’s customer base," the union statement said.
CEP represents 150,000 members across the country, including some 40,000 in the telecommunications industry.
