Unifor demands Bell be held accountable for layoffs

Unifor, Canada’s largest private sector union, called on BCE Inc. to answer for its recent layoff announcements after the telecom’s scheduled appearance in front of the heritage committee was postponed. During a media conference on Tuesday, Unifor national president Lana Payne accused Bell executives of ducking accountability for laying off more than 6,000 workers within eight months. Joined by Unifor Quebec director Daniel Cloutier and former news anchor Kevin Newman, Payne demanded answers from Bell, including how it decided on the job cuts and if it considered any alternatives, like reducing payouts to shareholders and executives. “Today, BCE executives were to appear before the Canadian heritage committee… Instead this week, Bell will continue to hand out pink slips to Unifor members,” said Payne. The heritage committee called on Bell’s executives, including CEO Mirko Bibic, to testify on Feb. 29. According to the committee’s minutes, Bibic was not available for the requested date and offered to appear on March 19 instead. Payne said the company “begged off” its appearance for a second time. “Shame on Bell and shame on its board of directors,” stated Payne. “They have put inflated profits ahead of workers, ahead of the responsibilities that come with providing important services to Canadians – whether it is telecommunication services, or delivering high quality local and national news.” She pointed to the company’s finances, criticizing its decision to raise dividend payouts while simultaneously announcing a slash of nine per cent of its workforce. “While cutting jobs, Bell paid out an all time high of $3.7 billion to shareholders. And between 2020 and 2022, CEO compensation rose by a whopping 40 per cent. Is it any wonder why workers in this country are angry?” said Payne. Referring to Unifor’s demands in its “Shame on Bell” campaign, Payne urged Bell to stop “decimating newsrooms” and invest in local journalism; reduce shareholder payouts and invest in workers’ well-being and job security; and stop outsourcing jobs to foreign countries. “This is about more than journalists losing their jobs. This is about the safety and security of Canadians,” said Newman. The former news anchor was encouraged to share the concerns of employees of Bell Media “who are unable to speak or are contractually obligated not to,” he explained. “They wanted Canadians to hear their concern that the constant news cuts are now to the bone and it's at a time when verified fact-based reporting is under severe strain from external forces and their own company,” said Newman. Cognitive warfare and the spread of disinformation have gotten increasingly worse in recent years and are now being “supercharged” through the use of artificial intelligence, explained Newman. He criticized Bell, “the largest and most profitable media company in Canada,” for choosing this moment to “drastically shrink” verified journalism, “the leading antidote to cognitive warfare.” “This profitable company, which has been granted stewardship of Canada's number one news source by federal regulators, should acknowledge this new and current threat of psychological information warfare and reverse course,” urged Newman. Payne echoed Newman’s sentiment, accusing Bell of shirking its responsibility to Canadians. “Read the room in this country right now,” she said. “People are angry at corporations who continue to do this: optimize shareholder profit without investing in the services that they promised to deliver to Canadians. And we're going to be calling them out for it, and we expect Canadians to call them out for it…” – Reporting by Phalen Tynes-MacDonald at pcreed@thewirereport.ca

Unifor demands Bell be held accountable for layoffs

Broadcast | March 19, 2024

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Unifor demands Bell be held accountable for layoffs

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