I apologize if this isn't the right sub to post this in, but I'm looking for a sympathetic ear, and wanted to let Canadian folks know what is going on at one of their telecom companies.
I work for a large telecom company in Canada. Our Collective Agreement expired on November 30, 2021. In Canada, for federally regulated companies such as mine, before any job action can be taken the two parties must negotiate what is called a Maintenance of Activities agreement. It's an agreement where the parties agree who must remain on the job in the event of a strike/lockout. So, my particular union certification has been around for 80 years, and in that time, we have never had a single member declared essential and required to keep working. My company decided this time around that 900 out of 4200 of us were essential. My union fought it – for 3 months. Finally in February the company relented and said not a single one of us were essential to the business and negotiations on our contract began – 2 1/2 months after expiry of the old deal.
To say that negotiations have not gone well would be an understatement. We currently have 3 major outstanding issues. Job Security (we want a floor of employment – meaning the company must employ a certain number of us at all times), bringing Cost of Living increase back into our Agreement (we have an article in the agreement already, it just hasn't been enforced since the 90s) and lastly bringing the company's teleworking policy into the Collective Agreement so that the union can grieve issues with the policy and all it entails. The company has dug its heels on each outstanding issue. So, we held a strike vote over Father's Day weekend, and got a strike mandate.
Fast forward a few weeks. The union has now publicized our strike deadline – no new agreement by 12:01am August 19th means that my certification will strike for the first time in its history. The company initially thought we were bluffing – but not any more, apparently. The SVP of Labour Relations has sent not one, but two separate emails asking our members to register with the company to cross the picket line (virtually, they would all be allowed to work from home) and scab for them. I believe they are taking their own strike vote. It's clear at this point they have no desire to come back to the table at any time to negotiate a fair deal – or any deal at all, for that matter. They would rather attempt to bust the union and turn us against each other. They are using the outage of another carrier here in Canada a few weeks ago as an excuse to get as many of us to cross the picket line as they can. They previously agreed none of us was essential, and now all of the sudden, we all are.
What we are asking for is fair. We want job security, as the company has eroded 8,000 of our jobs over the past 11 years. (from 12,000 to 4,200). We want our Cost of Living article that already exists in the Collective Agreement to come back into force. We want our wage to mean as much tomorrow as it does today – and with inflation at over 8% at the moment, the usual 2% raise they give us isn't enough (they offered us 2.25% each year of a 4 year contract, the bargaining committee said no). And we want their teleworking policy to be a part of the agreement so that each of our members are treated fairly regarding working from home, and that we have the ability to step in if they aren't.
If you made it this far – thanks. I'll let everyone know what happens as we approach our deadline. Up until last Thursday I was hopeful that a strike could be avoided. Now, I'm 95% sure we'll be on the line. And if we do end up there, I'd love to see some support from the public. This company has literally taken millions of dollars from the federal government for network upgrades and COVID relief, and continues to have no obligation to keep jobs here at the company. It's shameful, and needs to be brought to the light of day.