Around 30 people braved knee-deep snow to ‘practice picket’ for the USW 1944 Telus workers.
“We are having solidarity rallies or otherwise deemed ‘practice pickets’, explained Donna Hokiro, Local 1944 President.
“Essentially the purpose for them, and we’ve been having a lot of them over several weeks and months, and that is to demonstrate to Telus what it would look like if we we’re out on the picket lines, except for it would be louder, there would be more people, and it would be constant.”
The practice picket was one of many happening across Canada.
Hokiro noted the union has been at the bargaining table with Telus for about 16 months looking to renew their collective agreement.
“Ultimately, what they have on the table is a myriad of concessions,” Hokiro explained.
“It touches our pension plan, it touches our benefits, it touches wages. Indeed the first year we were negotiating, they have no retroactivity on the table, in fact that equates to a zero percent wage nothing, you can’t even call it an increase because it’s nothing.”
One member at the rally noted they would be given National Day of Truth and Reconciliation off, if they gave up Easter Monday.
“We’re making bologna sandwiches, they’re making money for their shareholders hand over fist, the very rich getting richer and richer, while they’re eroding the middle class and making poor people poorer, in the name of their profit,” Hokiro continued.
“They’re exploiting their workers, and we have the working class at Telus are saying ‘enough is enough’, and it’s not even like they’re giving us a slice of the pie, they’re not even giving us crumbs.”
Hokiro added they are currently in a legal lockout position, they are not in a position to strike.
She noted in October 2022, the members voted 97 per cent in favour of a strike mandate, but Telus came back to the table a few days later, and that deal was rejected as well.
“In December, when there was no more movement, because we were in conciliation, and that’s where we bring in the feds to help us,” Hokiro said.
“We had met with them up until December 19th, at which point the company just said ‘that’s it, that’s all’. Meanwhile still having all these concessions on the table, and they’ve refused to come back since and here we are at the end of February.”
Hokiro said they did not vote for a strike at that point, because they had hope Telus would return to the table soon.
“What’s on the table just does not cut the mustard,” she said.
“We’re left with no choice but to get a mandate once again from our members. Hopefully then, Telus will say ‘whoops’ or something and come back to the table and we can get a deal.”
Hokiro noted the Union represents approximately 7,000 Telus workers across Canada, 260 of which live in Prince George.