Bell's Olympic gift to Western Canada employees: layoffs

    VANCOUVER, March 10 /CNW Telbec/ - Bell Canada has terminated 88 workers
from its western unit; a move that undermines its corporate commitment to the
West says Canada's largest telecommunications union.
    "Bell makes lots of noise about its Olympic commitments but it has been
quiet about the devastating layoffs to its western Canada operation and its
business commitment to the West," said Wendy Sol, Administrative
Vice-President, Western Region.
    Most of the employees were laid off late last week. Bell targeted
technicians and the new CEP unit of clerical workers. Some of the work
performed in the West has been outsourced, including data processing which has
gone to the Caribbean.
    The technicians laid off are from CEP Local 950. Local president Brent
Eichler said his members are understandably upset by the layoffs.
    "Bell is showing, despite all its rhetoric, it's not interested in
building a company in the West," said Eichler, who has seen his membership
decline from 165 a year ago to 105 today. The technicians' contract runs into
May 2010, expiring just after the 2010 Winter Olympics.
    The clerical workers are part of a unit that is negotiating a first
collective agreement. CEP has filed an unfair labour practice complaint with
the Canadian Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) charging that Bell has violated
labour law with the layoffs.
    "Bell says it wants to compete nationally, not just in Ontario and
Quebec, and then it hacks away at its dedicated workforce in western Canada
and sends jobs out of the country," said Sol.
    Bell employs workers across the four western provinces. The layoffs
targeted employees in British Columbia and Alberta. CEP represents about
150,000 working people coast to coast in energy, paper, telecommunications,
graphical, and media.

For further information: Wendy Sol, AVP, (204) 988-1402, (204) 781-3386