Telus Corp. has informed around 150 call centre employees based in Ontario they must relocate by October, apply for another role or agree to be laid off.
The sign on the front of the Telus head office is shown in Toronto on Thursday, February 11, 2021. Telus Corp. has informed around 200 call centre employees based in Ontario they must relocate to Montreal by October or accept a voluntary package to leave the company. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn.
But customer service agents in Ontario won’t have a local office to return to because Telus is closing its Barrie location, which housed its Ontario contact centre, “following a thoughtful review of our real estate,” said spokeswoman Brandi Merker.“We’ve been on a journey to evolve our customer service, increasingly offering digital and self-serve options that continue to decrease call volumes,” she said in an emailed statement.
“Suddenly, they’re doing this about face and disrupting the lives of at least 1,000 of their employees,” said Phillips. “If, ultimately, an employer can force a move like this and if there are legitimate business reasons for the move, then quite frankly there would be nothing stopping an employer from doing so,” he said.Lucifero said if there are no rules about relocation set out in the collective agreement, it’s up to the union to fight to ensure employees are taken care of. That could include advocating for workers to have a fair chance of continuing their employment in another department.
“It’ll be case by case and context specific, but I think at first glance, this is a major relocation and that kind of notice isn’t enough,” said Lucifero.
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