Unifor leadership and Bell telecommunications and media members are in Ottawa to call out Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. for slashing more than 6,000 jobs in the past eight months while increasing payouts to shareholders. Today, Bell executives were supposed to answer for their actions before the House of Commons Heritage Committee but the company has delayed the hearing for the second time.
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Established 144 years ago, Bell has evolved into Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE Inc.), commanding the helm as Canada’s leading communications conglomerate. Now the company has been tarnished by the irresponsible and callous decisions by the Bell Board of Directors.
BCE’s systematic reduction of telecommunication jobs, outsourcing practices, offshoring endeavors, and the relentless downsizing of TV and radio newsrooms across the nation have cast a shadow over its legacy. Meanwhile, payouts to shareholders and executive board members have soared, exacerbating the growing chasm between corporate wealth and worker stability.
In a stunning blow to its workforce, February 2024 saw Bell axing an additional 4,800 jobs – a staggering 9% of its employees. More than 800 Unifor members, comprising 700 in telecommunications and more than 100 in media, found themselves abruptly terminated, casualties of a corporate ethos that prioritizes shareholder dividends over employee livelihoods.
Bell is a communications company with no moral fibre. While BCE points fingers at governmental policies, it cannot escape accountability for its actions.
March 20, 2024
TORONTO – Hundreds of Unifor Bell telecommunications members are being terminated on virtual group meetings today, just a day after Unifor rallied in Ottawa to call out Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE) for cutting thousands of jobs across the country while continuing to rake in profits and increase payouts to shareholders.
“These members have been living in dread of a meeting invite to find out they’ve lost their job since Bell announced the termination of thousands of jobs almost six weeks ago,” said Unifor National President Lana Payne. “The truth is Bell picked a number of heads to roll so it could increase its dividend payout without an actual plan on which jobs and which workers would be eliminated so the terminations are cruelly dragged out.”
Unifor represents more than 19,000 telecommunications workers at BCE and its subsidiaries.
Today notification began to more than 400 telco members in the Bell Clerical Bargaining Unit to inform them that they are being declared ‘surplus’ with some possibly eligible for a retirement incentive.
In one short 10-minute virtual meeting held this morning, a Bell Human Resources and Labour Relations manager, read a notice, without allowing members or the union the opportunity to unmute to ask questions.
After the union expressed outrage, Bell has modified its approach for upcoming meetings. Union representatives will be identified and people on the group calls will have the ability to unmute to ask questions.
“Our members, who have devoted years of service to this telecoms and media giant, are being repaid with pink slips,” said Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier. “If that’s not beyond shameful, I don’t know what is.”
The union launched its “Shame on Bell” campaign in response to last month’s announcement that BCE is callously eliminating 4,800 jobs, including 800 Unifor members in telco and media.
The mass termination of more than 6,000 workers in the last eight months occurred while BCE continues to rake in profits, reporting a whopping $2.3 billion profit at the end of last year.
Find more info on Bell job cuts, profits and dividend payouts here.
“Our dedicated, loyal, workers, who are predominately women, will have to explain to their families tonight that they are being let go from Bell for no good reason other than making sure that their shareholders and Board of Directors come first when getting paid,” said Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Len Poirier. “It’s absolutely disgusting.”
Unifor is Canada’s largest union in the private sector, representing 315,000 workers in every major area of the economy. The union advocates for all working people and their rights, fights for equality and social justice in Canada and abroad, and strives to create progressive change for a better future.
Unifor rallied in Ottawa on March 19 to call out Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. (BCE) for postponing a scheduled hearing before the House of Commons Heritage Committee to answer for the recent termination of 9% of BCE’s workforce.
“Last year alone, while cutting jobs, Bell paid out an all-time high of $3.7 billion to shareholders. And between 2020 and 2022, CEO compensation rose by a whopping 40%. Is it any wonder workers in this country are angry?” said Unifor National President Lana Payne.
“In this round of job cuts, the majority of Unifor members losing their employment are customer service and clerical workers, mostly women. Axed by a BCE Board of Directors made up of mostly wealthy men.”
This is the second time Bell executives have begged off scheduled appearances before the Heritage Committee, first on Feb. 29 and again today, on March 19.
Unifor represents more than 19,000 telecommunications workers at BCE and its subsidiaries. The union also represents more than 2,100 members at Bell Media.
The union launched its “Shame on Bell” campaign in response to last month’s announcement that BCE is callously eliminating 4,800 jobs, including 800 Unifor members in telco and media.
“Today, we stand up against Bell’s injustice and greed. Every job lost represents a life disrupted, a family affected,” said Unifor Quebec Director Daniel Cloutier.
“Canadians deserve better from their telecommunications companies. Bell’s decision to cut thousands of jobs, despite its considerable profits, is an insult to the loyalty and hard work of its employees. We are gathering in Ottawa to remind Bell and other companies that workers are not just pawns in their quest for profits.”
In June 2023, Bell Media eliminated 1,300 jobs. News coverage was further decimated last month with the elimination of most CTV News noon and weekend news casts and the dismantling of W5 as a long-form investigative unit.
Kevin Newman, award winning news anchor, journalist, and former host of W5, expressed his concerns as he joined Unifor leadership at a Parliament Hill media conference.
“By slashing its newsrooms year after year Bell is leading an information retreat among all broadcasters, and creating TV and radio news deserts where there are few, if any, private sector journalists. Canadians are left asking, ‘Where do we find the truth now?’” said Newman.
Newman warned that in an era of disinformation and cognitive warfare aimed at undermining the truth Bell Media workers want Canadians to hear their concern that the constant news cuts are now to the bone – at a time when verified, fact-based reporting is under constant strain from external forces, and their own company.
“To keep cutting the Bell division devoted to the pursuit of truth amounts to capitulation to those adversaries who are trying to undermine our trust in truth, in one another, and in our peaceful society” he said. “This is the time to fortify our information defences, not tear them down.”
The mass termination of more than 6,000 workers in the last eight months occurred while BCE continues to rake in profits, reporting a whopping $2.3 billion profit at the end of last year.
Find more info on Bell job cuts, profits and dividend payouts here.
Following the media conference, Unifor leadership joined Bell workers to rally and march on Bell’s Ottawa headquarters, shouting the message loud and clear: Shame on Bell.
“We need a commitment to your employees and Canadians to provide telco and media services with integrity,” said Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Len Poirier.
“Canadians deserve access to the best networks to be a globally-leading country. If you cannot make that happen under your current leadership, you need to change that. Change your vision or change your leadership.”
Unifor Ontario Regional Director and former Bell member Samia Hashi said she and the union “stand against the relentless erosion of good quality Canadian jobs and we demand a stop to the contracting out and offshoring of our work.”
Meanwhile, Unifor Western Regional Director Gavin McGarrigle warned Bell to expect the union’s actions to continue.
“Bell, you have awoken a giant,” he said. “Bell is coast-to-coast? Well, so is Unifor.”
Julie Kotsis, Chairperson of Unifor’s Media Council said the fallout from Bell Media cutting local news is that “Canadians across the country are less informed and our democracy is weakened. It’s time to tell BCE and Bell Media that enough is enough.”
Jeff Brohman, the Chair of Unifor National Telecommunications Industry Council, told the crowd how members have gathered to express their “disgust with what Bell has done to our fellow co-workers, their families and the company that we and the hard-working union members before us built.”
March 21, 2024
“Bill C-58, federal anti-scab legislation, must pass and be implemented without delay,” Unifor National President Lana Payne tells MPs during her testimony before the Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA).