Local offers to meet with Telus over payroll issues, Telus says ‘No’

Local 1944 Officers were happy last week to hear from Telus Labour Relations that Telus was requesting a meeting with the Local to discuss the ongoing payroll issues, including what Telus was doing to try to resolve them, and so we agreed to meet with them. Such a meeting would have been an opportunity not only for the Local leadership to get up-to-date information on current payroll errors, but also to be able to provide senior Telus leadership the detailed stories of how individual members have been impacted by receiving improper paycheque amounts. These stories were sent to us via our recent Payroll Errors Survey, collected on condition of anonymity, and they would have been referenced anonymously.
 
However, the Local received word Wednesday – the very day of the meeting with very little notice – that Telus was cancelling the meeting after CEO Darren Entwistle received an email he apparently didn’t like, from an activist in a different USW Local. Labour Relations further explained that another reason for canceling the meeting was because of our alleged intention to malign the Company, evidenced by allegedly inaccurate information stated in our recent leaflet, being distributed at malls across the country. The leaflet references that, due to payroll errors, members have in some instances had to use food banks, and that some members have been missing money over a long period of time, both of which the Company denies. At the end of this hotline are just a few of the comments that we received via our survey, stating otherwise and reprinted ‘as-is’. These stories and others would have been shared with Telus at our meeting, had they not cancelled due to not believing that this is even happening.
 
Furthermore, many grievance meetings regarding incorrect payment of wages have now taken place, and in each case so far the response from the Company has been a denial of the grievance, in many cases overtly stating that there has been “no violation of the collective agreement”. We would have expected Telus to uphold our grievances, perhaps while stating that payment of the resolve money may be delayed, but instead they are simply claiming that they have not violated the Agreement. 
 
We will continue to advocate fully for members on this issue until it is resolved.
 
In Solidarity,
 
USW Local 1944
“I had go to the food bank to get food, missed my student monthly loan payment and I got interest charged from my bank for visa payment, missed to celebrate my son's birthday.”
 
“I barely had enough to pay my bills this pay period... I now have zero money for food or any other expenditure until next pay cheque”
 
“Never have I ever experienced so much stress and anxiety over my financial situation. As someone without the safety net of savings and reliant on a steady income, these last 8 weeks have been hell. I spend my days thinking about how I'm going to afford my mortgage, hydro, food, gas and all my other bills. When I'm not thinking about bills, I'm thinking about NSF fees or my credit rating when I miss a payment. And it's not only affecting me. My wife is just as stressed as I am and I'm certain our kids are being negatively impacted as well. Our once happy home is now filled with unease and anger. I've taken one mental health day and could use a dozen more, but I'm too scared not to work my regular hours in fear of not getting paid at all. Telus needs to fix their payroll problems now or I don't know what will happen to my family.”
 
“This has been an absolute nightmare. The management doesn't care at all how this affects us and is constantly demanding we go above and beyond and even had the audacity to make us pay for a potluck holiday party. I have been facing food insecurity as well as the potential of losing my lease and having to leave Telus completely as I don't have family or friends to rely on. I have done nothing but given my hard work and time and commitment to TELUS for them to show me that I have no value, to ruin my financial health and then drive me to quit.”
 
“Payment issues has impact my family as due to inflation everything is very expensive and we are living paycheque to paycheque and this has caused a lot of problems with food and kids provision”
 
“it has caused massive stress due to not knowing if i can even pay my bills or provide food for my family. little alone be able to have a Christmas. Telus does not care how it affects us; they are moving ahead with ooops my bad we will fix it but it keeps getting worse with every fix. my pay stubs are so fucked up my, it’s been a month of promises to have someone go through them with me, but it had never happened. TELUS does NOT care period!!!!!”
 
“I’ve been underpaid by over 4000 dollars. Regular pay, overtime pay and in charge are all in the negative. This situation has increased my stress level and to say I'm angry”
 
“Telus has underpaid me a few thousand dollars in my standby pay and overtime not being issued. I have a young family and live in one of the most expensive cities in the country. I only pick up the overtime so I can afford to live here and provide for my kids. Now I’m behind in credit card payments and I have Christmas coming up around the corner. It will take months for me to catch up at this rate. I have no faith this will be rectified quickly on the Telus end of things and now feel like I'm working for free if I must do overtime let alone the standby shifts I’m forced to do.”
 
“I haven't had a full pay in over 2.5 months with next to no follow up from the company. It is stressing my out especially this close to Christmas. I am owed over $2000.”
 
“I’m not paid for the time I have worked and therefore have had to dip into savings to pay bills, groceries and other things that normally are funded by my pay. No gifts are being bought and no extras can be purchased leading up to Christmas.”
 
“Payroll issue has created a financial stress on me and my family. I have mortgage and bills to pay. Honestly, I don’t think that Darren E even care about Telus employees. I have been impacted thrice by this new payroll system and no one has apologized to me for this. I am almost thinking to quit to avoid extra stress on me.”
 
“First three pay periods I did not receive all the pay for the overtime that I had worked. In this 4th pay cycle since moving to the new system I was not paid for the overtime that I worked, I had previous overtime clawed back, and I did not get paid for my full basic hours of work.  With the holidays around the corner and the cost of living sky high I am relying on credit more than I would like to get me through the season with the hopes that the company will sort through this mess before the end of the year. “ 
 
“over four pay periods, I have had missing OT, missing reg time , missing differential , no pay at all , off cycle pay statements that were never deposited , off cycle " lump sum " that I don’t know what it was for , one pay had 50% income tax taken off .”
 
“My pay was shorted multiple times. The last pay I only got paid $106 which is terrible. Sad to say I was not able to pay my bills on time and had to spend hours to contact hr to fix this issue.”
 
“My family survives on a single income. When you are short $1000 on a paycheck before Christmas, we have to make tough decisions. Do we pay the mortgage or buy a present for under the tree. With no end in sight, we have found it incredibly hard to balance or finances. There are so many other issues this is bringing up, like how it affects our buying shares scheme or the way they are changing numbers on in the tax section of the pay stubs, when the CRA comes knocking who do we go to then?”
 
“I have been under paid for past 2 months. My wife is finishing her school, and I am the only person earning right now it’s been very difficult to manage college tuition fees. I picked up 8 OT days and I didn’t get paid for a single day plus Telus only paid for 58 hrs for regular pay when we work 75hrs. It’s more than $4000 Telus owe me. Telus is not a Startup company this is multibillion-dollar corporation, and they have resources to fix things. If this goes on for next payroll again I would like to put my union dues on hold.”
 
“This is the 4th pay period i am underpaid. I am on variable mortgage term. My mortgage is went high. So, i am working OT to pay my mortgage & keep up with the payments. But since i am getting underpaid. I have to borrow money from friends to keep up with my mortgage payments.”

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