Telus Labour Dispute Discussed

[Barry]

I figured I'd start posting the latest developments regarding the Telus labour dispute here. I'll post the news releases from whichever side.

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[Barry]

To aid the resolution of its labour relations negotiations, TELUS has provided an addendum to its offer of settlement for a replacement collective agreement with unionized employees represented by the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU). The addendum provides clarification and adjustments to the offer tabled on April 13, 2005.

The TELUS offer addendum contains the following elements:

- A contribution of up to $10 million to the Telecommunications Workers Pension Plan (TWPP). This company contribution will offset the actuarial impact of trustee approval to recognize the past periods lump sum payment such that it is treated as pensionable earnings.

- TELUS will make employer contributions to the TWPP for variable pay payments going forward so that they are recognized as pensionable earnings.

- A material increase of up to $8,000 to the lump sum payments for TELUS Communications Alberta-based team members working in access technician, network technician, service technician and engineering technician occupations.

- An increase from 2.0 to 2.5 per cent to the 2005 and 2006 wage schedules for plant technicians and engineering technicians in TELUS Communications and TELUS Mobility.

- For B.C. bargaining unit team members, variable pay will be awarded for the full year of 2005 if the contract is ratified before September 1, 2005.

- A TELUS Solutions Expert Program for select positions in Technology and Operations will provide pay differentials to employees attaining certain certifications.

- The establishment of a Common Interest Forum through which TELUS executives and TWU executives will meet every six months to promote dialogue on key business issues and areas of concern, including issues associated with contracting out.

- A good-faith commitment to reinvest savings, resulting from contracting out non-core functions, into TELUS' core business in the province where the savings originated.

There is no change to the financial guidance that has been previously communicated by TELUS concerning the impact of the proposed new collective
agreement with the TWU. The addendum also includes a Memorandum of Agreement making the implementation of the base wage schedules as provided in the offer conditional on the ratification of the offer prior to September 1. If the contract is ratified after September 1, the effective dates for annual wage increases for 2006 through to 2009 would be adjusted from April 1 of each calendar year to the actual date that the agreement is made effective.

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[Barry]

"On June 14, TELUS released further changes to their 'final offer'. These latest changes are an insult to all members of the TWU, especially those in predominately female job classifications," fumed union president Bruce Bell.

"This is an insult to members of the bargaining unit. It includes an offer of an additional $8000 in signing bonuses for approximately 1500 predominantly male craft employees in Alberta and an additional percentage increase to most of craft employees in British Columbia and Alberta. But there is nothing by way of a comparable increase for members in predominantly female classifications," Bell explained.

"The fact is that under the TELUS offer, wage parity for clerical and operator service employees would not become a reality until the final months of their offer," said Bell, who chairs the TWU bargaining committee. "TELUS is trying to drive a wedge between different groups of our members by offering bribes to some of them. Apparently the company hopes this approach will generate pressure to accept its substandard, ever-changing contract offer," he continued.

"This is just latest in a series of attacks that employees have suffered. With the closing of operator and business offices during TELUS' slash-and-burn downsizing campaign, female employment at TELUS outside of major centres was decimated. Employees in those centres were forced to relocate or resign. This latest move shows they're still at it," Bell insisted.

"TELUS has yet to comprehend that as unionists, 'What we desire for ourselves we wish for all'. We will not allow a wedge to be driven into the ranks of our membership. The issue in this round of negotiations is not about money. It is about negotiating a good, solid contract containing language that guarantees equity and protects job security," he concluded.

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[Barry]

TELUS has rejected the latest TWU proposal, which the company received on June 22, more than two months after TELUS tabled its comprehensive offer of settlement.

TELUS said the TWU's proposal is entirely devoid of any meaningful movement toward a resolution of this matter and even widens the gap in a number of key areas.

The company went on to say that for four and a half years, the TWU has refused to accept what is obvious to TELUS, its employees, its customers and its shareholders: the telecommunications industry has undergone tremendous changes in respect of increasing competition, technology, regulation and customer requirements. The TWU has not made a single proposal that represents a significant departure from the BC TEL collective agreement, which contains provisions and contract language that is decades old.

TELUS is trying to achieve a replacement collective agreement that provides it with the flexibility to compete on an even playing field with its competitors. TELUS proposes to do that with an offer that would provide its unionized employees with job security and make them the best paid telecommunications professionals in Canada. The company said that the TWU leadership must take some accountability for contributing to a resolution, rather than holding on to outdated views of the state of the telecommunications industry. TELUS is urging the TWU to put TELUS' offer and subsequent addendum to a vote.

The TWU proposal did not in any meaningful fashion directly address the TELUS offer and addendum but instead maintained as its base the expired BC TEL / TWU agreement with minor amendments.

For example:
- The TWU's proposal includes a contract expiry date of December 31, 2006. TELUS' employees have been without a contract for four and a half years; the TWU's proposed contract would expire 18 months from now.

- The TWU has proposed that "variable" performance pay should be guaranteed. The TWU's variable pay proposal would establish a guaranteed three per cent regardless of corporate results and performance. When combined with other incremental increases, the TWU proposal is financially and competitively irresponsible to our customers and shareholders.

- The BC TEL / TWU collective agreement contains the most restrictive contracting out language in North America. The TWU proposal seeks to extend regressive and inflexible contracting out terms in a manner that hurts the core competitiveness of the company, while prohibiting TELUS' ability to procure from the market basic services such as vehicle maintenance, janitorial services and coin counting.

- The TWU's proposal relating to vacations and holiday time off represent a significant widening of a gap relative to the flexibility TELUS seeks, and would pay team members for, to allow it to serve its customers better. It also does not include any acceptance of scheduled mandatory overtime. These measures fundamentally restrict the flexibility required to serve customers in today's competitive marketplace.

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[ruby]

TELUS announced it will implement its offer of settlement for a comprehensive collective agreement, tabled with the Telecommunications Workers Union on April 13, 2005 and the addendum tabled on June 14, 2005. Implementation of the comprehensive offer of settlement will begin on July 22, 2005.

The announcement comes after the implementation of a progressive set of lockout measures designed to encourage a settlement. These measures have not involved the closure of any TELUS offices, and do not affect general operations or service to our customers. This implementation will not include the lump sum payments contained in the TELUS offer, which will only become payable following ratification of the comprehensive offer of settlement. There is no change to the financial guidance that has been previously communicated by TELUS concerning the impact of the proposed new collective agreement with the TWU.

[averagejoe]

OK, here's the latest. I have it on good authority (relative of Mr.Bell) that ultimately in the end the union will accept the company's offer, seeing that there is little to no hope in getting any substantial changes. However, because of the way that the company is forcing the contract down our throats, he is prepared to "do battle" ie. strike for at least three months before caving in. So, this is the part that gets me. So the union, because it needs to "teach the company a lesson" is now willing to take all it's members to the picket lines. For me, that is one hell of an expensive lesson. I can barely go without one paycheque let alone six! And strike pay will hardly make up the difference. So all those promises of signing bonuses and wage increases are pretty much negated after the first month. Then it's going to personally cost me money just to send them a message! This is outrageous! I'm not going to be another hockey player which at the end of the day gets screwed over because their union wasn't smart enough to take a best case scenario offer in the beginning. I don't see Mr. Bell giving up any of his paycheques. If he thinks that this is all we can get at the end of the day, then I say suck up his pride and take the offer now so we can all be better for it at the end of the day. Again, I repeat, these are actual sentiments directly from the man himself, so that is why I would feel so betrayed if we were to go out and end up with the same or less of a deal.

[valencia]

Good Afternoon;

I have been reading your very informed and inteligent comments on the TWU's handling of this contract issue. I am a family member of a TWU member & Telus employee and I think the family members have a very unique view of what is going on. 1) We have to work in the real world ( the TWU has no idea what the real world is all about ) 2) We can see without influence from either party. 3) We see how union incompetence will effect not just the worker but their family.
In my working life I have been a member of the Steel Workers, Teamsters & CUPE and as I told my family member 10 years ago when they joined BC Tel the TWU is the joke of organized labour and they have proven this over this dispute.

This Union has not negotiated in good faith and are still living in the 1970's. The TWU wants a contract based on a time when 1) your partner Bell is now one of Telus biggest competitors, 2) the face of the industry has changed substantially. The union will get nothing more than what has been offered by the company in their latest proposal except the employees will lose the signing bonus - why - so some dilusional TWU executive can have an ego trip.
Other points I would like to make is that in talking with others, many other Telus employees that there is about 68% to 72% of employees will accept this contract if given the oportunity to vote, the strike vote the union took 2 years ago is no longer valid as 7,500 employees that voted are no longer with the company ( early buyout ), in not allowing the employees to vote on the offer the union is subverting the employees rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedom.

Maybe it's time for a labour action against the TWU - how about a strike against the union - they try to call you out on strike - you stand at your desk and shout " I'm mad as hell & I'm not going to take it any more " I'm on strike against the union. I will take absence from my job and strike against the union with my family member. I believe that there are many family members who would join the movement.

Power to The Telus Employees For A Fair Contract and An Intelligent Union Commitee

Thank You
The Voice of Reason

[Barry]

Some great inside information coming, thanks to everyone who has posted. It's always a struggle between union and the little guy and the corporate guy. Without the union the workers have no collective voice, and with it the individual may loose voice... I'll post some more stuff soon.

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[Barry]

Union members at the Telus print and document centre in Richmond who participated in a one-hour study session this morning have been locked out for four days.

"Look at the difference in the company's response in Richmond compared to its reaction in Red Deer, where craft workers who participated in a study session yesterday were locked out for three hours," notes TWU vice president Peter Massy.

"As a result of Telus's actions, the Richmond print and document centre is behind picket lines until TWU members return to work there," Massy declared. "As for everyone else, we are asking all other members to continue to report to work as usual until they receive direction from the union office."

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[Barry]

Hundreds of members of the TWU are being called off the job in Prince George for a study session with members of the union's executive council. The move coincides with the arrival of Telus CEO Darren Entwistle, who is coming to town to address a group of the company's managers at the Ramada Inn. Employees from the company's operator services, clerical and plant divisions are meeting in various locations throughout the city to discuss the company's rejection of the Minister of Labour's offer to appoint a special mediator to help resolve the dispute.

"Telus rejected the appointment of a special mediator because there's not a mediator in the country who would go along with their plan to strip away all the job protection language in our collective agreement that has been negotiated over the years," explained TWU president Bruce Bell. "That's what this dispute is all about."

The Prince George study session followed earlier sessions across Alberta and British Columbia. The one at the Telus document centre in Richmond, B.C. resulted in workers there being locked out by management for four days. Participants in an earlier session in Red Deer resulted in a three-hour lockout. Further sessions are scheduled today in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Cranbrook.

"Our people are fed up and disappointed that Telus rejected the Minister of Labour's offer to appoint a special mediator," explained the TWU president. "Our members have told us that they've had enough of being bullied by Telus management and they want to do something about it."

If I recall correctly, only a handful of those invited attended these meetings....

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[Barry]

"Telus's plan to bribe our members into accepting their unilaterally-imposed deal is not working," said TWU president Bruce Bell. "More than 800 Customer Service representatives were off the job in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria this morning, with solid support in all four areas. The company is offering our people signing bonuses in hopes they'll ignore the issues of job security, contracting out and lack of wage parity. But our people are supporting us all the way," he explained.

"When the company found out about the study session, they tried to get our members to ignore the union-sanctioned activity. When that didn't work, managers resorted to threatening our members with discipline - up to and including termination - if they took part in the union study sessions," Bell elaborated. "Managers even tried to intimidate them by phoning some of our members at home on Sunday evening."

"Telus has been trying to drive a wedge between the members in Alberta and those in BC, anticipating that people in Alberta would not be as union-oriented as those in BC," he continued. "But our members have thrown a monkey wrench into Telus's plan because people in both provinces are hanging tough."

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[Barry]

The TWU announced that it is setting up picket lines across Alberta and British Columbia effective 6:00 a.m., local time. This is 18 hours in advance of the Friday deadline when Telus intends to impose its contract on employees. TWU president Bell explained that the company has been attempting tocoerce employees into accepting its deal.

"In the run-up to the company's Friday deadline, management has been threatening, browbeating and intimidating our members, trying to get them to come to work tomorrow under terms and conditions imposed by Telus. They have threatened to close the offices of members who do not come to work on Friday. They have offered to use security guards to help employees cross picket lines. There seems to be no limit to what Telus is willing do to undermine our union and its ability to represent our members."

"Telus complains that our contracting out language restricts their ability to compete," Bell stated. "But the company's share price was up 40 per cent last year and they were the global telecom leader in terms of revenue, earnings and cash-flow growth rates. Maybe Telus's competitors would do better if their collective agreements contained similarly 'restrictive' contracting out language," he commented sarcastically.

"This dispute isn't about our refusal to get rid of outdated contract language. It's about workers' right to job security and a decent standard of living versus Telus's unrestricted corporate greed. We've tried every imaginable way to work out some kind of accommodation with the company, but the people who are running their show want to break our union," Bell explained. "Telus's game plan is not working. I'm getting the word loud and clear from our members. They're demanding that we get it on," he concluded.

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[Barry]

TELUS confirmed that it will implement certain terms and conditions of its comprehensive offer of settlement on July 22.

"Our offer recognizes the contributions of our team members and effectively addresses the needs of TELUS, our customers and our shareholders," said Darren Entwistle, TELUS president and CEO. "It would make TELUS' unionized team members among the best paid telecommunications professionals in Canada, provide employment security and give TELUS the flexibility it needs to compete on an even playing field with its competitors."

This implementation will not include the retroactive and lump sum payments contained in the TELUS offer, which will only become payable following ratification of the comprehensive offer of settlement.

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[Barry]

The Canada Industrial Relations Board has rendered a decision that rejected complaints filed by the TWU against TELUS in November 2004 and amended in April of 2005.

The decision upholds TELUS' labour relations approach. The TWU complaints alleged that TELUS failed to provide the TWU with an opportunity to engage in meaningful bargaining after the company completed tabling its comprehensive offer of settlement on April 13, 2005; by inappropriately communicating the offer directly to team members, including the timing, distribution and content of the communication; and by failing to provide the TWU with an opportunity to consult with former Clearnet employees. The CIRB decision vindicated TELUS completely on all of these complaints.

The TWU had also requested, among other things, that the Board order that the lockout measures initiated by TELUS on April 25, 2005 was illegal, that TELUS retract its offer, that a communications ban be imposed and that binding arbitration be ordered. The CIRB rejected all of these requests by the TWU. On one instance, the CIRB noted that TELUS did not provide the information concerning the former Clearnet employees early enough.

TheCIRB ruled that TELUS' April 25th lockout was lawful. The CIRB also held that TELUS' communication of the TELUS offer did not contravene the Code. The Board concluded that the company's communications about the offer did not: misrepresent the contents of the offer, did not contain threats or promises, did not undermine or belittle the union nor did they attempt to by-pass the union as exclusive bargaining agent nor have any disparaging effect on the TWU in its representational capacity.

Despite this ruling, the TWU appears to be still depending on third-party intervention to resolve our long-standing labour issues. Within an hour of hearing the CIRB decision, the union filed four more complaints with the Board, relating to union dues, union access to company premises interfering with a trade union, intimidating employees and launching a wage differential program with the TELUS Solutions Expert Program.

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[Barry]

The Supreme Court of British Columbia granted an injunction sought by TELUS against the TWU. The injunction is to ensure safe access to the company's locations and its customers' locations in British Columbia. The injunction prevents TWU union members from:

- Picketing at, on or near TELUS' premises or customers' premises in a manner that blocks, obstructs or impedes access to and from the premises.
- Impeding, blockading or obstructing persons adjacent to or in the vicinity of all TELUS locations and customer locations in B.C.
- Trespassing at these same locations.
- Aiding or abetting, counselling, supporting, encouraging or conspiring with others to bring about any of the acts referenced above.

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