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This morning the General Council of the Canadian Telecommunications Employees' Association (CTEA) supported a merger agreement concluded last week between their organization and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP).
During the next few weeks, the merger agreement will be voted on by all CTEA members. Vote results will be announced on October 15. "We are confident that our members will approve this important agreement" commented CTEA's President, Brenda Knight. "If the merger becomes effective, it means that all the different unionized groups of employees at Bell Canada, Bell Aliant, Expertech, Bell Technical Solutions, T Del Debec and the numerous other companies owned and controlled by Bell will from now on be represented by the same Union. There is no doubt that this merger will be a turning point in the history of labour relations at Bell Canada."
"This proposed merger represents a new era in solidarity and strength in negotiations for workers in the telecommunications sector," said Dave Coles, CEP President. "It is quite properly subject now to a democratic vote of CTEA members and I am confident they will join with all other telephone workers to fight issues like outsourcing of our jobs and broader issues like the foreign takeover of our industry."