January 18, 2021 - Hello Members,

By now, you may have seen management’s January 14th email announcing Telus’ Ergonomic Subsidy and Internet Subsidy for those who qualify to enter the “At Home Agent Evolution” program in Q2.

Starting as soon as Covid-19 started to impact our worklives the Union has been in constant contact with Telus management in order to represent your experiences and your viewpoints, trying to ensure that you and your work were properly respected. A major issue from the very beginning has always been the lack of a guaranteed ergonomic workplace at your home office, something we considered a basic right. It has always been a contradiction in Telus’ Covid response that members were rushed out of their offices for their safety, but that members have been doing work in an unsafe manner at home this entire time.

It stood to reason that getting the most immediate needs dealt with first like setting members up with computers and the ability to work from home was proper and reasonable. Accordingly, Telus did a good job of this in their initial stage. Then, they stalled and sputtered. 

First, we asked that members be allowed to take their work chairs home, and this was at first dismissed as it would void the warranty on the chairs and other such nonsense, like tracking them! Next, we asked that at least a subsidy be put in place for chairs and other furniture like desks as well.  It is good to see that this has finally occurred, but there was no credible reason to delay this from last March until now. It is also unjust for Telus to allow retroactive reimbursement for ergonomic needs to those who qualify for the new AHAe program in Q2, and then offer no reimbursement for those who incurred ergonomics expenses but will not qualify for AHAe. What does hitting your metrics have to do with being reimbursed for your health and safety expenses? On this point, Telus is simply being outrageous in a detrimental way. What if you would rather work in the office? No reimbursement for you.

The Internet Subsidy is also welcome but is also long overdue. The program ought not to have ever been discontinued. Members should never have to pay for their own work equipment, this has been a Union principle for over 100 years, so it’s sad to see that this is still a challenge at a wealthy corporation in the 21st century.

The changes nonetheless show the importance of letting your Union know what you are experiencing at work. Many members completed our Covid-19 Check-in Survey in June, with many reporting not only that they desired these changes, but that they were experiencing new strains and injuries due to their inadequate ergonomic situation. Your stories regarding the challenges you’ve been facing have been consistently and emphatically relayed to Telus management, so it is indeed about time that they delivered on these basic measures to improve your safety while working. We are proud to advance your concerns and seek resolves for you such as this one.

In Solidarity,

USW Local 1944