TELUS Quebec union members have voted 95.7 per cent in favour of a tentative agreement previously reached on June 18. On August 4 in Rimouski, Quebec, a fifteenth general meeting concluded an extensive round of ratification. Over the past four weeks, 53.9 per cent of the 1,000 members took part in the vote held on the North Shore, Gaspésie, Beauce, the Quebec City region, Montreal and the Bas-Saint-Laurent.
“The course of our negotiations has been long and eventful, but the perseverance of our members and our negotiators has borne fruit. We are very pleased to have achieved our objectives and to move into the fall with a new labour contract,” said Diane Gagné, president of the local union.
The new collective agreement will be in effect from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014. The negotiations focused on wages, contracting out and benefits. They began in October 2009 with the theme “Act now for our future, our jobs, and our working conditions.” Since mid-February, discussions continued in the presence of a mediator and concluded in June with the help of a conciliator and the participation of Steve Bédard, vice-president of labour relations (Burnaby), and François Cliche, vice-president of human resources (Montreal).
The union for Quebec TELUS employees, CUPE 5044, has nearly 1,000 members spread across the province. They are call centre agents, as well as office, trades and janitorial employees.
TELUS is one of the largest telecommunications companies in Canada.
With 7,250 members in communications in Quebec, CUPE is present in several other sectors, including health and social services, education, urban and air transport, Quebec government corporations and public agencies, energy and municipalities. With nearly 105,000 members, CUPE is the largest affiliate of the Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec (FTQ).
