Negotiations (hopefully 'bargaining') have started and have lasted quite a while now - over two weeks. The entire TWU Bargaining Commitee is now present (good sign) and CEO Darren Entwhistle is participating directly in the talks. A media blackout is in effect, and I haven't even heard a rumour about what's going on at the table. Members on the line are cautiously optimistic: if TELUS gave us their offer again, and said 'Take it or leave it.', talks would have ceased almost immediately. Members are in a bit of a holding pattern as it were right now, but you should expect the mood and actions to change substantially should talks break down.

Lots of scabs/replacement workers amok in BC now - no TWU members have been allowed to cross, though (as per TELUS policy). I'm thinking that the "no crossers in BC" policy has to do with strategy - I believe, from my experiences, that very few would cross in BC if the doors were open. If very few crossed in BC, this may give members in Alberta pause, seeing the solidarity. TELUS says that it is for safety reasons. I expected the doors to open long ago, but they have not. Some managers have phoned clerical / customer service members and asked them what it would take for them to cross. No craft/trades/technicians have been called.

But scabs are still all over the place. A general mix of very young, middle aged, and elderly (retired) managers in field service. The young ones get hot-headed and fuck with us all the time. Also, new scab trainees are being brought into my compound for training in bus-vans. We have no idea where they are from.

Quite a few (around 60?) members have been arrested in BC. For violations of the injunction: alledgedly threatening scabs, standing in driveways, standing too close to driveways. One of my friends was arrested for an alledged threat, that he says he never made (he thinks the scab must have misheard him). He will go to court soon. Police will generally not arrest any TELUS employee that breaks the injunction (i.e.: no TELUS markings on work vehicles), but that may change as the injunction has been amended to prohibit TELUS employees or agents from harrassing, intimidating, and threatening us as well.

Many members are also receiving letters asking them to appear at internal TELUS 'investigations' looking at their behaviour on the picket lines. TWU legal and exec is recommending that members not attend these meetings, and to my knowledge, no members have. Members then recieve a letter of termination. We reject the legitimacy of these firings, and the phrase is, 'None goes back until all go back.' I would say that it is TELUS's greatest weapon for intimidation and demoralisation - members are much more afraid of getting fired than arrested. There is no clear edge to this, as TELUS's and the TWU's definitions of harassment vary.

The rainy season has begun in Vancouver, just in time for me to go on bicycle flying squad downtown. Whoohoo. Mood on the line is still solid, but a little crankier, for sure. TWU numbers: 30-40% of Alberta has crossed. TELUS numbers: 56% of Alberta.

Lots of support from other unions. I'm happy to see that the CMG is back at work, and happy to support the BCTF (rally, downtown Van, Tuesday 5:30). The CAW in particular have just showed up lots at the line to offer support and snacks.

P.S. If anyone watches TV, tell me: is that a video of George Stromobopolous (sp!) on the new TELUS "Tune into TV on your cellphone." ad? The irony. I gotta have a talk with him, if I saw right. Also, Todd Bertuzzi is shilling for TELUS, cementing my suspicion that the NHLPA isn't a real union and has no concept of solidarity.

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Telus strike ends

Vancouver — Telus Corp. and the Telecommunications Workers Union agreed to a new contract late Sunday, ending a work stoppage that began this summer at Canada's second-biggest phone operator.

The company and union said in a joint release they had reached a memorandum of settlement on a new five year deal that ends the work stoppage that began July 21.

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There's a chance, I don't know how large, that the TWU members will not vote to ratify the offer. Very few members have seen the agreement, as it has not been widely distributed, but those who have seen it have spread word, and a sizable portion are not happy.

I'll decide when I read the agreement. I won't vote 'yes' if there is not total re-instatement of all employees fired during the dispute, or at least the ones that have not been convicted of assault.

This could have a multitude of different outcomes. But I think the media jumped the gun - members usually vote with their unions' recommendation, but not always.

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...The union finished tallying the results Sunday night after a week-long ratification vote by its members, who mostly work in Alberta and British Columbia. Of 9,027 votes cast, 50.3 per cent opposed the agreement, the union said. ...

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I know where I'm going - to a different telephone provider. There just aren't any with a decent union any more.

Last week, I called Rogers to disconnect and go back to Telus. Rogers "loyalty team" phoned me within the hour and I had the 2 x $25 reconnect charges reversed and added as a credit to my account.

I used to work for Rogers at the Tower in Metrotown, I hate them with a passion. There are no unionised workers inside their buidlings still.

[ 31 October 2005: Message edited by: rockerbiff ]

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Originally posted by Nam:
...I heard of some other tactics that were in place to be implemented but delayed while voting was going on.

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Originally posted by Nam:
This is probably the worst possible result.

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I don't have much time to post, but ditto. Worse. Possible. Scenario.

Meanwhile, TELUS is refusing futher negotitations. I think they want to punish us for as long as the public can tolerate it.

There is, to my mind, two ways this will play out.

[ 02 November 2005: Message edited by: Hephaestion ]

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Originally posted by Amy:
Also, all the TWU members I've spoken to have had their Telus mobility files 'locked out' by management, and they've been told that the company isn't working on employee files until the dispute is over. This means that they can't make changes to their cell phone plans. I think that's reason enough to call the CRTC.

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Originally posted by HeywoodFloyd:
I'd say that post merger, the managment wars were won by the BC Tel managers. The IT dept post merger is the BC Tel IT subcompany ISMBC. The union that took control is the old BC Tel union.

So overall, I'd say that Telus is being run by BC Tel.

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Originally posted by Gir Draxon:

I knew it from the beginning- TELUS was just too anxious to expand, too blinded by the profit opportunties to see that dealing with BC unions is playing with fire. It's their own fault for not seeing that.

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I agree. Union-wise, a company wide (well, AB and BC) vote was taken for representation, TWU vs. IBEW (vs. some clerical unions, I believe). The TWU won. Many will say, "Well, of course the TWU would win, since BC has more employees." Maybe, but the IBEW could have been lobbying as well in BC. Workers will join the union they believe can get them the best contract.

But this is TELUS's way of dealing with their union troubles - I do strongly believe that the current situation is what they wanted all along.

Regarding right now, it's the worse possible scenario, as I said. It has been three months, and our members are getting worn out. Right now, I don't think we have the solidarity to continue with this - we need to get TELUS back to the table ASAP. The TELUS executives will tear this company apart if they keep us out as 'punishment'. If they really want to unleash hell, they will refuse to renegotiate.

There are some interesting factors to consider in this vote. Ontario and Quebec, I believe, voted overwhelmingly 'Yes', on company time, at company facilities, with no real connection to their new union. The scabs in AB voted "Yes", those that voted - which I believe were few. And BC, overall, I believe was a strong 'No'.

I don't think that this result was destined to happen. I believe we fucked up by bringing an old-school fight to a new world skirmish. A union cannot sit idly by and let a company, for five years, prepare for a dispute. We played fair, at least - but look where it got us . I'd say 'fight on, but differently' - but the vote is too close, and there are too many demoralised by the results.

Direct action gets satisfaction?

I will be voting 'No' again, most likely - any revisions I think would not be changing what I find unsatisfactory with the tenative agreement. But pragmatically, there's an awful good chance that any revision will bump it through.

(P.S. to Heywood - if management is BC Tel, and the union is BC Tel, then why are we here, the first work stoppage in near 25 years, and the last three were wrapped up in about a month? I am being a little disingenuous with my question, but I do think the executive team have changed quite a bit from either AGT or BC Tel. The vote may have been close, but I don't think you'll find the majority of employees have faith in the TELUS leadership.)

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Originally posted by Anarchonostic:

(P.S. to Heywood - if management is BC Tel, and the union is BC Tel, then why are we here, the first work stoppage in near 25 years, and the last three were wrapped up in about a month? I am being a little disingenuous with my question, but I do think the executive team have changed quite a bit from either AGT or BC Tel. The vote may have been close, but I don't think you'll find the majority of employees have faith in the TELUS leadership.)

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I'm trying to figure out tinyurl.

[ 07 November 2005: Message edited by: Nam ]

I'm glad there is a quick vote again, after the last results. I'm not so glad that the company got to dictate our ratification process to us. But it's done now... I'll be voting again. I should be voting No, but objectively, I'm thinking I will be back to work in two weeks regardless.

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Originally posted by Nam:
I've been hearing some strange shit about CAW and Buzz being involved over the last while, including being in negotiations. I've seen an online petition calling for the censuring of Bruce Bell, the President of TWU, for talking about "selling out" to CAW. This is bizarre if true. Anyone else hearing anything like this?

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Now I know what 'bittersweet' is all about. I think my feelings echo other members I've spoken to in Vancouver. We've made some rather painful tactical and organizing blunders over the past few years. This dispute was not lost near the end - how it began determined how it ended. Our union now had two directions to go in - either we become more of a business union, a lumbering national giant - or we become stronger through militancy. The growing pains really hit home - one of BC's strongest private sector unions just got kicked in the balls.

On the bright side, we did get a bargained contract instead of an imposed one. Even if the ratified contract looks a lot like the July imposed one. And our membership has swelled, and we can work on building solidarity in Alberta and the east. Although the new contract gives the company a lot of leeway to reduce our membership in the next few years.

We're also an open shop now - new hires have the choice at the point of hire, rather than having to declare Rand status after the fact.

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Originally posted by Anarchonostic:
[URL=http://www.twu-canada.ca/cgi-bin/news/fullnews.cgi?newsid1132300800,21515,] Our members in Ontario and Quebec are still making less than us for doing the same work.

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Originally posted by Nam:

Am I correct in thinking also Alberta members make less than B.C. members until parity is acheived in 2010?

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Am I correct in thinking also Alberta members make less than B.C. members until parity is acheived in 2010?

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Originally posted by Islander:

Since there is no PST in Alberta, they will be in effect earning 6% more than BC workers.

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