Are you a Telus subscriber? Telus is the main phone company in Alberta and BC, though they provide mobile phone service and business phone services across Canada. Please support locked-out Telus workers.
- Find out how you can support Telus workers
- More on the Telus lockout: the Telus Idol video (The Tyee)
In April 2005 the company turned a five year negotiations process into a one-way conversation by locking out its employees in British Columbia and imposing their contract demands.
In July they applied the same tactic to their employees in Alberta. When Telus workers put up some websites to publicize their cause, Telus flexed their muscle as an internet backbone provider and blocked access to the workers’ sites from all their subscribers. (Telus seems to have relented after widespread protest)
This dispute takes place while Telus itself is making more profit than ever before and its executives are awarding themselves pay increases in excess of 50 per cent in some cases and 300% in another even as thousands of jobs are disappearing and customer service levels are dropping.
The workers - members of TWU are keen to help the company remain successful, but not at the expense of their customers and their livelihoods.
They’re asking Telus subscribers to:
- cancel some of services, like call waiting, call display or call answer
- switch long distance carriers while the lockout is going on
- cancel automatic billing and request a paper bill
- if you get poor customer service, file a complaint with the CRTC
- take part in their online actions