Hello Members, 

Since July 10th, when Telus announced its new Return to Office policy for about 1,000 Customer Experience members, and redeployed about 150 Ontario members to Quebec, USW Local 1944 has actively pushed back against these changes. A key step in our response was to file formal grievances against this management direction.  

While the process of arbitrating such grievances can be lengthy, in this case Local 1944 sought an injunction from the BC Supreme Court to halt these actions pending the arbitration result. The Court indeed granted this temporary injunction, and ordered expedited arbitration, which occurred in September. 

Arbitration Outcome

Today, we received the binding decision of the arbitrator regarding our grievances against Work From Office and against the redeployment of members from Ontario to Quebec.

He has found that Telus did not violate our Collective Agreement, or any aspect of Canadian labour law. As such, the original Work From Office and redeployment mandates are considered valid, and Telus was given the right to reestablish and enforce these directives.  

The Arbitrator has yet to provide the reasoning behind his decision, but we expect his rationale in the coming days. 

This is not the news we wanted, but we knew it was a potential outcome. In the coming days, the Union will share an FAQ document regarding the full implications of the arbitrator’s award but for now we can say the following: 

• The company has been granted the right to continue with the Work From Office and redeployment plans that it originally announced July 10th 

• Your Union will continue to publicize Telus mismanagement, the injustice of its Work From Office and redeployment actions, and the erosion of the quality of its telecom services, to media, politicians and Canadians.  

• Your Union will continue to fight Telus’ greedy anti-worker and union-busting agenda at every turn. 

• Your Union will continue to pursue valid Workplace Accommodation Requests that have been filed by individual members regarding their inability to adhere to the WFO directives due to a prohibited ground of discrimination such as Disability or Family Status. Final decisions regarding the granting of these Requests are being expedited by the arbitrator.   

The Local would like to repeat its thanks to our legal counsel, staff at the Canadian National Office who worked on this case, and to those members who were our witnesses. And thank you for your own support, as members who have engaged in many actions to fight the company’s plans.  

As the company moves more toward a Work From Office structure, the Union will be more present than ever in the workplace. We’ve made tremendous progress in the last several years, becoming an ever more solid Union, even with such a large Work From Home component, but this will only accelerate when many of us are in one place, with your shop stewards working right alongside you. The company should have been more careful what it wished for! 

This result creates hardship for many, and we wish that the company’s actions could have been stopped by the grievance/arbitration process, as we’ve attempted to do. But please know that your Union has fought for worker’s rights for 80 years, and that no loss will ever dissuade your Union from fighting its utmost for the justice that you deserve at work. The fight continues. 

In Solidarity,  

Michael Phillips – President 
Jennifer Turner – Vice President 
Ross Brown – Secretary-Treasurer 
USW Local 1944