Council wades into Telus dispute

By Dan Hilborn
Published June 1, 2005


The City of Burnaby is calling on the federal labour minister to intervene and attempt to find a resolution to the five-year-old contract dispute between Telus and its unionized employees.

The motion from Coun. Colleen Jordan comes three weeks after a delegation from the Telecommunications Workers Union appeared before council to say the two sides appear headed towards an impasse that could lead to a disruption of telecommunication services for up to nine months.

Jordan, the recently retired secretary-treasurer of CUPE B.C., said her motion takes the "middle ground" in the dispute, which has been escalating ever since the company began implementing lockout measures against its employees in the past two months.

"I think we are really serious in saying we don't want this to escalate," Jordan said. "Telus is a large organization which supplies what is almost a monopoly for telecommunications service in B.C."

Last month, members of the TWU told council that their unionized workforce has been reduced by more than 6,000 positions in the five years since the dispute started, while the company has failed to meet its regulatory requirements for quality of service.

Jordan said her motion allows the minister, Joe Frank Fontana, a variety of options ranging from the appointment of a special investigator, to the demand for conciliatory talks or binding arbitration.

If the dispute escalates, Jordan said it could lead to "all sort of difficulties" including "the possibility of vandalism."

She noted that a similar dispute in Quebec lasted for 19 months.

While Mayor Derek Corrigan voted in favour of the minister's intervention, he also noted that it was preferable to have a "freely negotiated" settlement.

"We're not trying to determine who's right or wrong," the mayor said.

"I feel for them all," added Coun. Nick Volkow, who said he is friends with both managers and unionized workers at Telus. "If there isn't some resolution, the potential for some real nastiness is there."

A report from the city's director of finance noted that a "preponderance" of unionized Telus employees live and work within the borders of Burnaby and a lockout or strike could result in millions of dollars of lost wages. The report notes there are "well in excess of 20" Telus locations in the city which could be adversely affected by TWU picket lines.

The report also notes that Telus issued a settlement offer to the union on April 21, moved to its first stage of lockout procedures on April 25, and stopped deducting employee union dues on May 5.

While the City of Burnaby currently has contracts with Telus for a wide variety of services, the finance director's report said the likelihood of the failure of its data or Internet services is "negligible" and the probability of a major failure of its voice services is "remote."