December 14, 2017 - The USW Local 1944 /Telus National Health and Safety Policy Committee met Thursday December 7, 2017, to discuss items regarding Health and Safety of Telus employees across the country.

One of the important items that had been under discussion was the anticipated arrival of a Tel only Test-and-Treat pole maintenance program. Many of the Tel only poles in service across Canada have not received any general maintenance for over thirty years. Taken in conjunction with the fact that many of those same poles conservatively range in general age from fifty to seventy years old, it does present questions regarding the viable life span of certain sections of the aging Plant.

There are approximately 12,000 poles in Alberta, 200,000 in British Columbia and 180,000 in Quebec. On a holistic level, if you calculate a conservative average of forty years of life for almost 400,000 poles, that results in approximately sixteen million years of environmental wear and tear of the entire Plant.

Subsequently, the union members of the committee were proud to be able to be a part of Telus' announcement last week, in Burnaby on December 7th 2017, that four million dollars is officially allocated to the first Tel only pole - Test-and-Treat maintenance program in decades. The comprehensive safety and maintenance program's vast scope contains a plan to re-inventory any poles that currently have no joint-use agreements with applicable power authorities.

The USW Local 1944 National Health and Safety Committee commits to you, the membership, to continue to work hard on the other important safety issues of national scope that you bring to our attention. If you have not considered joining your local workplace health and safety committee, reconsider and make a difference in your workplace for all of your co-workers, bargaining unit and management alike.

Sincerely,

USW Local 1944 National Health and Safety Committee