Telecommunications Workers Union

Telecommunications Workers Union

Infobox Union|
name=TWU
country=Canada
affiliation=CLC
members=
full_name=Telecommunications Workers Union
native_name=


founded=1949
current=
head=
dissolved_date=
dissolved_state=
merged_into=
office=Burnaby, British Columbia
people=
website= [http://www.twu-canada.ca/ www.twu-canada.ca]
footnotes=
The Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) is a trade union in Canada for people working for telephone and cable companies. Although the TWU has members from Shaw Cable in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, the majority of TWU members are employees of Telus.

Telus 2000-2005 labour dispute

The union's labour dispute with Canadian telecommunications firm Telus began after their previous contract negotiated with Telus's predecessor BCTel before the two merged expired at the end of 2000. On April 12, 2005, Telus made its last offer to the TWU, and on July 12, Telus informed the TWU of its intention to bring an end to the dispute by unilaterally implementing its April offer to employees in Alberta and British Columbia, effective on July 22. The TWU set up pickets on July 21.

The TWU was concerned with outsourcing and contracting out; Telus was insistent that it needed a flexible contract. Union members in British Columbia did not cross picket lines, but in Alberta, the company announced on September 14 that an independent review conducted by Ernst & Young LLP had found that a majority of bargaining unit employees in Alberta were [http://about.telus.com/cgi-bin/media_news_viewer.cgi?news_id=614&mode=2 working] at Telus as of August 31. The union, however, held that only 20 to 25 per cent of its members in Alberta had returned to work, based on the amount of strike pay being distributed; among other things, the union claimed that Ernst & Young's numbers were inflated due to picketers receiving pay stubs (showing amounts owing due to money for benefits accumulating over the length of the dispute) despite not being present at work.

Shortly after the dispute began, Telus blocked customers from accessing Voices for Change, a TWU-friendly website which had posted photographs of employees crossing picket lines, claiming concerns about employee safety. The blocking prompted accusations of censorship and collateral filtering of 766 additional unrelated websites from union supporters; soon thereafter, the company obtained a court injunction against the publication of the photographs, which were removed, and access to the site was restored on July 28.

On August 31, 2005, a security incident occurred outside Telus's store at Metropolis at Metrotown, when a package with a number of wires sticking out of it was left outside the store. The entire complex was evacuated while the bomb squad investigated and found the package to be harmless.

In early September 2005, an automobile accident knocked out phone service to about 70 Telus customers on Gabriola Island, one of whom required a direct 9-1-1 line due to a medical condition. A standoff ensued when picketing TWU members refused to allow a specialized Telus repair truck onto the island, with Telus accusing the TWU of endangering the lives of its customers. The situation was resolved the following week when Telus crews were flown to the island instead via helicopter; the crews, however, were only able to make rudimentary repairs to the facilities. (The temporary repairs resulted in telephone wires being left on the ground, as workers were unable to attach them back on the poles.)

On September 7, an anthrax scare occurred at Telus's main office building in Burnaby, when an envelope containing white powder was left on the sixteenth floor. The ventilation system was turned off and the management staff inside were quarantined before officials found the substance to be a harmless bodybuilding product. Police said they believed the incident to be connected to the labour dispute; the union, however, maintained that not only had its BC members not crossed any picket lines and hence could not have been behind the scare (the building had been behind pickets for the length of the dispute), but that Telus had disabled all security passes of picketing members. An investigation by the police failed to produce any charges.

A spike in vandalism of phone lines was also reported, particularly in the Vancouver area; a number of areas there reported having phone or data lines cut. Telus originally placed responsibility for the line cuts on the TWU; the union, in turn, blamed the problem on criminals seeking high-grade copper contained within telecommunication cables, which often fetches a high price on the black market. Telus was forced to make repairs for such line cuts a number one priority, as customers without phone service could not call 9-1-1. A number of arrests were made in connection with the vandalism, none of the suspects being Telus employees. Similar line cuts occurred after the dispute was settled.

Accufax Investigations International (AFI), a security company specializing in labour disputes, was hired by Telus to watch over its buildings and managers. AFI has been accused of engaging in strikebreaking in the past, and a number of incidents involving picketers scuffling with AFI guards were reported, including one well-publicized incident in which a picketer and a security guard became involved in a scuffle after the picketer put his hand in front of a videocamera the guard was operating. Security guards videotaped picketers in an attempt to enforce a number of injunctions aimed at keeping the peace around picket sites; the union, however, in several instances, accused security of attempting to instigate fights and that the videotaping was intended as an intimidation tactic.

On September 26, talks resumed between the company and the union, resulting in a tentative agreement on October 10. On October 30, union membership voted against ratification, with 50.3% of voting members voting against the contract. A second tentative agreement was reached with a mail-out ballot, and on November 18, 2005, the contract was ratified with 64.1% support, ending the dispute.

Moving Forward

The TWU is currently, and some argue continually, in turmoil as President Bruce Bell fights internally to hold his position. Despite the finding by John Shields, the Ombudsperson appointed by the Canadian Labour Congress, to keep Bruce Bell as President, the TWU decided to challenge Mr. Shields decision in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. On December 8, 2006, the Honourable Mr. Justice Groves released his oral decision which effectively removed Bruce Bell as the President of the TWU and also severely criticized the processes used by the Canadian Labour Congress. The TWU Convention elected George Doubt as President in March, 2007. [#Sources| [1] Currently, the TWU is set to pay off all loans from other trade unions before the end of 2007.

External links

* [http://www.twu-canada.ca/ Telecommunications Workers Union]
** [http://www.twu-canada.ca/cgi-bin/news/viewnews.cgi?newsall TWU: News Index]
* [http://www.voices-for-change.ca/index.asp Voices For Change]

Sources

# [http://www.twu-canada.ca/cgi-bin/news/fullnews.cgi?newsid1173682800,84984, 2007 Final Results of the Elections]

See also

*List of trade unions


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