Bell Canada is offering severance packages to 1,200 unionized employees, citing unprecedented challenges, a move that is being acknowledged as ‘a damaging stunt’ by Unifor’s National President Lana Payne, who condemned the program.
Payne stated, “Workforce reduction plans are a damaging stunt to temporarily reduce costs, making profits appear higher on the backs of workers. Bell cannot keep cutting jobs every year and expect the ship to turn itself around.”
The packages are referred to by the company as an “enhanced voluntary separation program,” that is seeking eligible employees ready to retire or willing to find work elsewhere. Bell Media is not included in the buyout.
Bell Canada has cited that several organizational changes, including the move of customers to newer fibre networks, have reduced workloads, thus requiring fewer positions, which seems to be the trend across its operations. There have already been several rounds of job cuts over the last year and a half as well as the offloading of assets, including a recent announcement by its parent company to cut nine percent of its workforce and sell off dozens of regional radio stations.
Last year, Bell sold its 37.5 percent ownership stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) to Rogers for $4.7 billion, though it turned around and acquired U.S. telecom company Ziply for $5 billion a few months later.
Many believe that the recent telecom ruling by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) to ensure smaller operators had access to the infrastructure the company has spent years investing in to secure a competitive advantage is part of the reason it has shifted its focus south of the border.
