Terminated Without Opportunity to Speak
During a brief virtual meeting held on March 20th, Bell’s Human Resources and Labour Relations manager informed 400 employees of their termination without providing them the chance to unmute and ask questions, as reported by UNIFOR.
Following widespread outrage over the incident, Bell Canada has pledged to adjust its approach for future meetings, allowing union representatives and staff the opportunity to pose inquiries.
“These members have been living in fear of receiving a meeting invite to discover they’ve lost their job since Bell announced the termination of thousands of jobs almost six weeks ago,” stated Unifor National President Lana Payne.
Unifor represents over 19,000 workers at BCE.
Recent Workforce Reductions
Bell has laid off more than 6,000 employees and has divested 45 radio stations in the past 8 months amid significant restructuring. Most recently, “multi-skilled journalists” have supplanted news correspondents and technician teams assigned to CTV National News in Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, and Atlantic Canada.
