OVERVIEW
Nearly all members in the CUPE communications sector work for private sector employers under federal jurisdiction, regulated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). The sector is facing decline, and has approximately 5,700 members, the vast majority (roughly 98%) of whom are in Québec.
Communications sector locals fall into three subsectors:
- Telecommunications, the largest, represents more than 80% of the members in the sector and includes cable distribution, telephony and Internet service providers (Cogeco, Telus, Videotron, Rogers, Acronym Solutions, Bruce Telecom and Cochrane Telecom Services).
- The media subsector includes members working in leading media, such as Groupe TVA, Journal de Québec, Global, RNC Media, Cogeco Media, Bell Media, CTV, Rogers, and Vista Radio.
- Cinematography and post-production (National Film Board of Canada, SETTE, and Difuze) account for less than 4% of members. This is the only subsector to represent federal public sector workers (NFB).
The major job classifications CUPE represents in the communications sector include technicians (camera operators, switchers, editors, sound integrators and mixers, installation and maintenance personnel for coaxial cable and fibre-optic networks) and information technology specialists, call centre agents, office staff, journalists, directors and advertising representatives.
ISSUES
Technological change and outsourcing
The communications sector is constantly changing due to evolving technology, which changes users’ consumption habits, companies’ business practices, as well as the regulations and legislation governing the sector. Substantial changes to work organization, relocations and job losses are often an unfortunate by-product.
At SETTE and TVA, our subtitling members have been hit hard by the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in their line of work. Around 50 people lost their jobs in 2024 for this reason.
In telecommunications, employers prefer to automate tasks (using new technologies such as AI) and use subcontractors or “turnkey” contracts, rather than training long-standing employees. Virtual agents or chatbots have started doing the work of our members in call centres. Other technologies using AI conduct surveillance on our members in real time, something that local unions are fighting.
Regulatory environment
The communications sector is regulated by the CRTC, which can have an impact on the resources of companies and the decisions they make.
Accordingly, the roughly twenty television stations that benefit from the Independent Local News Fund (ILNF), like RNC Media, saw their funding cut drastically when the 15 traditional TV stations at Global were granted access to the Fund by the CRTC in 2025.
The ILNF should have benefited from funds provided by foreign online companies, but these multinationals appealed the decision to the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA). After many twists and turns, the government told the court they intended to eliminate the contributions being fought in court and to replace them with public funding that has yet to be put in place.
All this turmoil creates uncertainty for the companies that employ our members, and that has an impact on jobs.
To deal with declining advertising revenues at its local TV stations, Québecor took advantage of a regulatory provision that allowed it to close its MAtv community channel in Montréal, transferring its budget to news production at TVA. This led to 87 layoffs at MAtv in early 2026.
The implementation of the Online News Act – which requires web giants to share a portion of their profits with the media whose news content they use – brings in $100 million a year in welcome support for newspapers and radio news media. However, the generation of summaries by AI systems is increasingly replacing the posting of links to source media in search engines, which puts this extra funding in jeopardy. In addition, Facebook continues to prevent news from circulating on its platform, which leaves more space for disinformation.
In telecommunications, a decision by the CRTC aimed at increasing competition has allowed large providers to enter the markets of smaller telecoms companies, without requiring them to invest in building up networks. This puts financial pressure on many of our members’ employers and could have an impact on jobs.
Corporate structures and union certifications
Communications sector employers have become great champions of creative corporate structures that get them around union certifications.
At Telus, unionized workers are increasingly isolated at various affiliates, in which non-unionized workers perform the same work. Québecor (Groupe TVA, Vidéotron, Journal de Québec) has also moved its unionized employees to non-unionized units over the past few years.
As well, since it laid off more than 500 members in 2024, TVA moved its operations to the Journal de Montréal offices, and Journal de Québec joined TVA’s teams in Québec City.
Moving staff around causes potential problems with union certifications and undermines the diversity of information sources.
Underfunding of the National Film Board
The NFB’s stagnating budget, along with the dramatic rise of inflation in recent years, has led to a considerable loss in its purchasing power, which threatens the jobs of members working for the public film producer.
As if that wasn’t enough, the federal government established an advisory committee in the spring of 2026, tasked with modernising the NFB, Telefilm Canada and the Canada Media Fund. Rumours have been circulating that the three organizations could be merged into one.
BARGAINING
Wages, working conditions and job losses
Wages are relatively good in this sector, but some trades find it hard to retain talent. That is especially the case for IT and middle management positions, where the gap continues to widen between the wages our members earn and the salaries paid by other companies. This has prompted many members in telecommunications to resign, at Telus for example, where the employer offers voluntary leave incentives every year. As the vacant positions are not being reposted, the sub-sector has seen a decline in members since the pandemic.
With the rise in inflation, most telecommunication locals have succeeded in achieving decent salary increases during this period. Increased competition could make it more difficult to negotiate wage increases in the future, like in the media industry where employers have faced declining revenues. Some employers have also increased pressure to limit or eliminate working from home, which has complicated bargaining.
Subcontracting and precarious employment
As the communications sector is almost entirely private, profit is the predominant goal. Over the last several years, there has been an increase in the use of subcontractors, both in Canada and abroad, where wages are lower and working conditions are inferior, as well as temporary staff and freelancers.
Despite this, our members at Cogeco succeeded in putting a stop to the hiring of temporary staff in their last round of bargaining.
Training
In an era of rapid technological advancements and growing use of AI, it is increasingly important for workers in the sector to receive training and develop their skills.
While some employers have budgets for training, others insist that workers are responsible for their own training to keep their job skills up to date.
Pension plans
Nearly all workplaces in this sector offer pension plans. There is a mix of defined-contribution plans, defined-benefit plans and group RRSPs. However, employers in private sector companies that still offer a defined-benefit plan want to scale down benefits to reduce their own risk.
CAMPAIGNS
CUPE is working with the United Steelworkers of Canada and Unifor, in the Canadian Telecommunications Workers Alliance, to protect telecommunications jobs in Canada. A website has been created, and many meetings with Members of Parliament have been held. The Alliance has also made presentations to House of Commons committees and held media events.