Telus Communication Inc. is a national telecommunications company located in Canada offering the most diversified range of telecommunication services to its customers including both phone services and the Internet ones. However, the company is well-known not only for its high quality services, but for the labor dispute the company’s Human recourses politics caused in the beginning of 2000s. Still, in any business it is highly important that the employers preserve the workers’ civil rights as in the case of failure in this area the company may eventually suffer great material and reputation looses as it has happened in the case of Telus.
On July 21 2005 the employees from Telus Company went on strike to protest against the new Code document which had been under development during the past five years (Austen, p. 1). This new document threatened to limit employees union’s rights. Namely, the employees complained that in this new document the company violated their rights interfering into the process of administrating the trade union. In addition, they wanted to determine that the conditions of employment including the payment issues, working hours, working conditions, and the other issues connected to the process of work would not be affected. As a result of the conflict between the union of labor power and the companies’ management some resonant dispute has arisen in society. This dispute continued for a significant period of time, and climaxed as an unusual form of protest on specially created sites in the Internet. This caused the company’s worries concerning the harm for its reputation which such debates may lead to.
The problem has actually developed since the year 2000 when Telus Company’s management started the work on a new agreement which significantly affected working conditions (Telus Communication Inc., v. Telecommunications Workers Union, p. 73). The last ones were observing this matter, and when the document was finally adopted, the Union of workers went on strike. This strike was accompanied by resonant dispute on special sites in the Internet. As a response to the remonstrates’ actions, the company blocked the sites. This action by Telus became the pick of the conflict (About Telus: Company history, p. 1). The employees’ demands were to protect the workers from the unfair labor practices which had been being developed as a part of a new Code document. The representatives of the workers informed the company’s management of the difficulties the workers might have at their places of work as a result of such unfair document. The representatives of workers supported their statement with significant facts and addressing the guarantees of rights and freedoms provided in the Constitution. During the long period of conflict and negations the union of workers succeeded to achieve its goals and secure the workers better working conditions. However, this result was achieved after a long session of negotiations and the interference of the state which laid to the companies’ great material and reputation looses.
The increase of employees over the last year supported international call center operations as well as the provision of human resources outsourcing services and growth in the Wireless segment. Negotiations for the expired collective agreement covering approximately 1,000 office, clerical and technical employees was carried on in 2008 between TELUS Québec and the Syndicat québecois des employés de TELUS. A tentative agreement was signed in 2006 which includes scheduled increases, certain lump sum payments, the representation of variable pay based on Company performance and changes to other conditions of employment. The new agreement would expire in at the end of 2009. There can be no assurance that tentative agreement will be ratified or reduced productivity or work disruptions will not occur as the result (Telus Communication Inc).
Telus Sourcing Solutions is considered to be the first Canada’s company which deals with providing solutions for human resources across Canada. These solutions include pension, recruitment, payroll, safety services, occupational health and compensations. It is a great opportunity of transforming human resources to a high value-added strategic partner. This company assures every employee safe and healthy working environment. More than that, Telus High Performance Workforce solutions aim at good results achieved through mentoring, succession, training and 360 degree feedback. The main goals of Telus are: “Improving employee competence and productivity by creating performance benchmarks against corporate strategy; creating a learning culture within the organization that promotes skill and personal development; aligning your workforce to a set of common goals and objectives.” (Telus Communication Inc). The results of the work and a success of the company depend on the working conditions of employees that is why it is very important to take care of human resources.
Concluding on the above mentioned information, it should be stated that the importance of preserving the employee’s civil rights is great for any business establishment. Thus, it is significant for its management to participate in the process of collective bargaining in order to provide the company’s workers with fair working conditions and well-deserved fees. The case with Telus Communication Inc. gives strong evidences to support this idea.
Works Cited
- About Telus: Company history 2012.
- Austen, Ian. “A Canadian Telecom’s Labor Dispute Leads to Blocked Web Sites and Questions of Censorship”. The New York Times. 2012.
- Telus Communication Inc., v. Telecommunications Workers Union. Canada: FCA 262, 2005. Print.