Telecommunications Workers Union

Last updated
TWU1944-2014
Telecommunications Workers Union 1944-2014
TWU logo.jpg
Merged into United Steelworkers
FoundedSept 1,1944
DissolvedDecember 31, 2014
Headquarters Burnaby, British Columbia
Location
Affiliations CLC

The Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) was a trade union in Canada for people working for telephone and cable companies. Although the TWU had members from Shaw Cable in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, Canada, the majority of TWU members were employees of Telus. It was founded on September 1, 1944 and existed until December 31, 2014. In November 2014 the members voted to join the United Steel workers of America (the second vote in a year to be held as the first vote failed). Per the merger agreement the independent status of the Union which had represented Telecommunications Workers in Canada for over 70 years came to an end. The new local is known as "Telecommunications Workers Union, United Steelworkers Local 1944" and is a local of the United Steel Workers of America an 860,000 member union.

Contents

Telus 2005 labour dispute

The union's labour dispute with Canadian telecommunications firm Telus began after their previous contract negotiated with Telus' predecessor BCTel before the two merged expired at the end of 2000. On April 12, 2005, Telus made its last offer to the TWU, and on July 12, Telus informed the TWU of its intention to bring an end to the dispute by unilaterally implementing its April offer to employees in Alberta and British Columbia, effective on July 22. The TWU was locked out on July 21.

A tentative agreement was reached on October 10, 2005. On October 30, 2005, union membership voted against ratification, with 50.3% of voting members voting against the contract. A second tentative agreement was reached with a mail-out ballot, and on November 18, 2005, the contract was ratified with 64.1% support, ending the dispute.

Merger with USW

In a referendum vote counted November 7, 2014, the members of the Telecommunications Workers Union voted to join the United Steelworkers (USW). The merger agreement took formal effect on January 1, 2015. About 42% of the total membership of 12,500 voted. The result of those who voted "yes" was 73.8%, which amounted to approximately 30% of the entire membership.

See also

Sources

    Related Research Articles

    Telus Subsidiary of Telus Corp, a Canadian telecommunications company

    Telus Communications Inc. (TCI) is the wholly owned principal subsidiary of Telus Corporation, a Canadian national telecommunications company that provides a wide range of telecommunications products and services including internet access, voice, entertainment, healthcare, video, and IPTV television. The company is based in the Vancouver, British Columbia, area; it was originally based in Edmonton, Alberta, before its merger with BC Tel in 1999. Telus' wireless division, Telus Mobility, offers UMTS, and LTE-based mobile phone networks. Telus is the incumbent local exchange carrier in British Columbia and Alberta. Telus' primary competitors include Shaw Communications. It also competes in the mobile sector with Shaw Communications, Rogers Communications and Bell Canada. Telus is a member of the British Columbia Technology Industry Association.

    The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) is a labor union representing approximately 1.3 million workers in the United States and Canada in industries including retail; meatpacking, food processing and manufacturing; hospitality; agriculture; cannabis; chemical trades; security; textile, and health care. UFCW is affiliated with the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the AFL–CIO; it disaffiliated from the AFL–CIO in 2005 but reaffiliated in 2013. UFCW is also affiliated to UNI Global Union and the IUF.

    Communications Workers of America U.S./Canadian labor union

    The Communications Workers of America (CWA) is the largest communications and media labor union in the United States, representing about 700,000 members in both the private and public sectors. The union has 27 locals in Canada via CWA-SCA Canada representing about 8,000 members. CWA has several affiliated subsidiary labor unions bringing total membership to over 700,000. CWA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and affiliated with the AFL–CIO, the Strategic Organizing Center the Canadian Labour Congress, and UNI Global Union. The current president is Chris Shelton.

    Canadian Labour Congress National trade union centre

    The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.

    UNITE HERE Labor union in the United States and Canada

    UNITE HERE is a labor union in the United States and Canada with roughly 300,000 active members. The union's members work predominantly in the hotel, food service, laundry, warehouse, and casino gaming industries. The union was formed in 2004 by the merger of Union of Needletrades, Industrial, and Textile Employees (UNITE) and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union (HERE).

    United Steelworkers Industrial labor union in North America

    The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union, commonly known as the United Steelworkers (USW), is a general trade union with members across North America. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, the United Steelworkers represents workers in Canada, the Caribbean, and the United States. The United Steelworkers represent workers in a diverse range of industries, including primary and fabricated metals, paper, chemicals, glass, rubber, heavy-duty conveyor belting, tires, transportation, utilities, container industries, pharmaceuticals, call centers and health care.

    Iorwith Wilbur Abel, better known as I. W. Abel, was an American labor leader.

    Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada Former Canadian trade union

    Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, abbreviated CEP in English and SCEP in French, was a largely private sector labour union with 150,000 members, active from 1992 to 2013. It was created in 1992 through the merger of three unions - the Canadian Paperworkers Union, the Communication and Electrical Workers of Canada and the Energy and Chemical Workers Union. See below for some other unions that were merged into the CEP. CEP/SCEP was affiliated to the Canadian Labour Congress.

    Transport Workers Union of America

    Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) is a United States labor union that was founded in 1934 by subway workers in New York City, then expanded to represent transit employees in other cities, primarily in the eastern U.S. This article discusses the parent union and its largest local, Local 100, which represents the transport workers of New York City. TWU is a member of the AFL–CIO.

    Stelco Lake Erie Works

    Stelco Lake Erie Works is a greenfield steel mill located in Nanticoke, Ontario, Canada.

    Association of Professional Flight Attendants

    The Association of Professional Flight Attendants (APFA) was founded in 1977 and represents over 26,000 flight attendants at American Airlines. In 2003, APFA played a major role in keeping American Airlines solvent and out of bankruptcy by giving back an employee bailout of $340 million in annual salary and benefits, for a total of over $3 billion. APFA had been in negotiations with American for almost four years when the carrier filed for chapter 11-bankruptcy protection on November 29, 2011.

    The Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 3902 is a Canadian labour union local representing sessional lecturers, postdoctoral researchers and teaching assistants (TAs) at the University of Toronto, Victoria University in the University of Toronto, the University of St. Michael's College and New College in the University of Toronto.

    The Bituminous coal strike of 1977–1978 was a 110-day national coal strike in the United States led by the United Mine Workers of America, AFL–CIO. It began December 6, 1977, and ended on March 19, 1978. It is generally considered a successful union strike, although the contract was not beneficial to union members.

    Lynn Russell Williams was a Canadian labour leader best remembered as the International President of the United Steelworkers union (USW) from 1983 until his retirement in 1994. Williams was the first Canadian to head a major North American industrial union.

    This is a timeline of labour issues and events in Canada.

    Bill Routley is a Canadian politician who served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia in the 39th and 40th Parliament of British Columbia, from 2009 to 2017. As a member of the BC New Democratic Party, he was elected to represent the riding of Cowichan Valley in the 2009 provincial election and re-elected in the 2013 election. In both parliaments his NDP formed the official opposition and Routley acted as their deputy critic on issues relating to forests and natural resource operations.

    Congress of Industrial Organizations North American federation of labor unions from 1935 to 1955

    The Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) was a federation of unions that organized workers in industrial unions in the United States and Canada from 1935 to 1955. Originally created in 1935 as a committee within the American Federation of Labor (AFL) by John L. Lewis, a member of the United Mine Workers (UMW), and called the Committee for Industrial Organization, its name was changed in 1938 when it broke away from the American Federation of Labor. It also changed names because it was not successful with organizing unskilled workers within the AFL.

    The following is a timeline of the history of labour organizations in communities in and around Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. Listings for incorporated townships which were later amalgamated with the City of Sudbury are noted separately.

    The 2020 Alabama aluminum plant strike is a labor strike that occurred in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, United States from December 2020 to January 2021. The strike involved approximately 400 members of the United Steelworkers Local 200, over alleged unfair labor practices by Constellium, a multinational producer of aluminum products who operate a manufacturing plant.

    The 2021 Allegheny Technologies strike was a labor strike involving about 1,300 workers for metals manufacturing company Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI), all unionized with the United Steelworkers (USW). The strike began on March 30 and ended on July 13 with the ratification of a new labor contract. Strikers returned to work by July 19. According to the Northwest Labor Press, the strike was among the country's largest for 2021 by number of strikers involved.