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About 30 members of the Métallos union protested outside the Montreal office of Telus on Saturday denouncing what they describe as the constructive dismissal of more than 100 workers.
In early July, 150 Telus employees in Ontario were told their office was closing and they’d have to go into the company’s Montreal office three days a week or lose their jobs.
The employees have until Aug. 9 to decide whether they’ll move or not, according to the union. Métallos, known as the United Steelworkers outside Quebec, has also asked a court in British Columbia, where Telus is headquartered, to suspend that deadline.
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“After that, we want to argue in court that this measure is illegal and violates the rights of the workers,” said Dominic Lemieux, the union’s Quebec director.
The company announced last month it will end its work from home policy, with the change going into effect in September.
While most of its employees have been able to work from home since the beginning of the pandemic, some have had the privilege for more than 15 years, according to the union.
“Telus keeps moving jobs overseas and all of a sudden it’s no longer possible to telecommute? It’s ridiculous,” Lemieux said in a release.
He said in an interview the company has eliminated almost half of its employees in Canada.
Brian Leclerc, the president of the Syndicat des agents de maîtrise de Telus, which represents professional employees including engineers and network planners in Quebec, said the company is trying to push workers to leave in order to move jobs to countries like the Philippines, Romania, Bulgaria, El Salvador and Guatemala.
According to Métallos, the company has more than 80,000 workers overseas.
A year ago, the telecommunications company cut 6,000 jobs, including 4,000 in Canada.
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