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Bell Craft Bargaining History, Issue 4 of 8.
The telecommunications industry is ever changing. At the same time as technology evolved at a rapid pace and internet and telecommunications technologies are integrated into every aspect of worker’s lives in Canada, craft workers have seen so-called ‘old jobs’ disappear from our bargaining unit.
If industry evolution creates new opportunities, so we must ask- where are all these ‘new jobs’ going?
The introduction of Fiber to the Home and Wireless Home Internet services created ‘new jobs’ across Ontario and Quebec with a workload that could sustain and grow the bargaining unit for years to come. Yet Bell Craft workers are not seeing any of these ‘new jobs’ being assigned to the bargaining unit.
Bell Canada assigned this work on new technology not only the company-created BTS and Expertech, but also to a host of external, non-union contractors and “authorized vendors” rather than to Bell Craft Technicians.
With no guarantees of work, and no history of assigning the work of the next generation technology, now is the time to secure a guaranteed future for Bell Craft technicians, and our work.
At the bargaining table, the company has yet to agree to any minimum staffing levels and/or the commitment of any current work being exclusive to the bargaining unit. This worrisome trend has been ongoing for almost three and a half decades and it is unacceptable considering the central role the network we built plays into the daily lives of fellow Canadians.
