News

OTTAWA – “Bell Canada’s latest round of job cuts is driven by a greedy

corporate strategy to boost shareholder profits by outsourcing

good-paying Canadian jobs to low-wage countries,” says Canada’s largest

telecommunications union.



“The company’s goal is to decrease the number of unionized employees and

drive up profits for shareholders, many of whom are on Bell’s own upper

management team,” says Barb Dolan, Ontario Administrative Vice-President

for the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada.



Bell has recently announced that 100 clerical employees in Ottawa – many

with more than 30 years of service, and only months away from retirement

– will be thrown out of work. Sixty-six employees at the Ottawa Quality

Assurance Team will be declared surplus and Bell is planning to replace

these unionized jobs with managers, says Dolan.

CEP Local 6004, which represents 800 clerical Bell employees in Ottawa

and has seen Bell repeatedly cut unionized staff over the last three

years, reducing the original number of members from 1,400 to almost half

after this last round of cuts.



“Telecommunications workers who have been totally hammered by

outsourcing of jobs, often to low-wage countries,” adds Dolan.

“Thousands of positions have been lost at Bell Canada due to outsourcing

Canadian telecommunication jobs to other countries where labour is cheaper.”



“We are making an all-out effort to make the sell off of Canadian jobs

in the name of ‘globalization’ an election issue,” says CEP President

Dave Coles. To that end, the union is sending questionnaires to all

political parties this week requesting their position on this and other

issues of concern to its members.



“Outsourcing is an issue that has affected our members in

telecommunications and if left unchecked, it has the potential to affect

workers in practically every industry in Canada,” he says.



“Canadians deserve a clear statement that the government supports

keeping well-paid, unionized, Canadian jobs in Canada. Among other

things, the federal government must improve the labour code to protect

unionized jobs from outsourcing.”



CEP represents 120,000 Canadian workers in several key parts of the

economy, including forestry, energy, telecommunications, media and

construction, among others.



MORE INFORMATION: Dave Coles (613)299-5628; Barb Dolan 416-998-3954



NOTE: Media are invited to Local 6004’s information rally on April 1st

from 12:00 to 1:00 PM at 160 Elgin St. in Ottawa.