To Bell Locals in Ontario,

Sisters and Brothers,

As a follow up to the announcement made by Bell Canada on February 11, 2009, your Union is reviewing what legal options we may have in this situation. I will keep you up to date on any options that may come to light.

This decision by Bell to transfer work out of the bargaining unit is only the latest in a long line of similar decisions over the years since the telephone industry was deregulated many years ago. It's obvious that Bell's only interest is in finding a way to get the work done cheaper, either by our members in BTS or with contractors, and it has been an ongoing effort for us to find ways to stop or at least slow down this migration of well paying Bell jobs to jobs that pay much less.

As we all know, the language in our collective agreement doesn't prevent contracting out by Bell. However, it does provide huge protections for individual members against layoffs. In fact, Article 11 provides some of the best layoff protections of any collective agreement in the country.

I think it is a good idea for Bell local officers to meet on February 26 to discuss how we might deal with this latest decision by Bell to erode the bargaining unit. I plan to be in attendance, and will work with everyone to try and find whatever creative solutions we can to defend our bargaining unit.

In solidarity,
Barb Dolan,
Administrative Vice President CEP Ontario Region.

cc:
Bob Huget, Vice President CEP Ontario Region
Kim Ginter, Administrative Vice President CEP Ontario Region
National Representatives Servicing Bell Locals