Bell offering buyouts to up to 1,200 telecom employees, union questions cuts

BCE Inc. is seeking to eliminate up to 1,200 positions in its telecommunications division. The workers affected are unionized. “We have informed the unions that Bell Canada is looking to introduce an enhanced voluntary separation program for up to approximately 1,200 eligible unionized employees,” Bell said in a statement emailed to The Wire Report. “A voluntary program will be less disruptive for our employees, customers and company.” The severance package will allow workers to retire or explore new opportunities, the statement continued. No one from Bell Media, which includes television and radio properties, is being targeted by this buyout offer. “We are planning this voluntary program because Canada's telecommunications industry continues to face unprecedented challenges and our business is changing,” Bell stated. “Several organizational initiatives, and migrating customers to a more resilient and easier to maintain fibre network, have resulted in reduced workloads requiring fewer positions.” Unifor, the union representing Bell employees, is upset. “Unifor condemns Bell’s shortsighted workforce reduction plans that will potentially cost another 1,200 workers their jobs,” the union said in a news release. “Workforce reduction plans are a damaging stunt to temporarily reduce costs, making profits appear higher on the backs of workers,” union president Lana Payne was quoted as saying in the release. “Bell cannot keep cutting jobs every year and expect the ship to turn itself around.” Payne blamed the move on Bell’s desire to move into the American market. Last November the company purchased Ziply Fiber, operating in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. Payne worries that BCE CEO Mirko Bibic does not have a clear vision for the future of the firm. “The question that we’re all asking is, ‘where does it end?’,” she remarked. “At some point, someone at Bell has got to put forward a long-term plan that actually includes investing in Canada’s workers again," Payne said. READ MORE: - CRTC, St-Onge highlight Bell’s profitability in response to 4.8K job cut, CTV and radio closures - Unifor demands Bell be held accountable for layoffs - Bell failed to give feds advance notice of layoffs, defends cuts in committee testimony This is the latest in a series of job reductions at Bell. It cut 1,300 jobs in June 2023 and slashed 4,800 positions beginning in February 2024, reducing Bell Media by 50 jobs last June and cutting 120 jobs at its Expertech division in October. Net earnings for Bell in its latest quarter were $505 million, a jump of 16.1 per cent from Q4 2023’s $435 million. Earnings for fiscal 2024 plummeted to $375 million, a decline of 83.9 per cent from fiscal 2023’s $2.32 billion. This was attributed to non-cash asset impairment charges totalling $2.19 billion. This was mostly related to Bell Media’s TV and radio properties. For Bell communications and technology services, revenues in Q4 fell 1.1 per cent to $5.68 billion from the year before. For the fiscal year, revenues were $21.6 billion, a decline of 1.4 per cent from 2023. Meanwhile, Telus Corp. is offering buyouts to approximately 700 employees across the nation, according to a report in the Globe and Mail. This follows the 6,000 workers offered packages by the western telecom in 2023. ppark@thewirereport.ca

Bell offering buyouts to up to 1,200 telecom employees, union questions cuts

Telecom |
By Paul Park
| February 11, 2025

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Bell offering buyouts to up to 1,200 telecom employees, union questions cuts

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