If you are as old as this rapidly aging columnist, you may remember Lily Tomlin’s classic TV comedy routine as Ernestine the telephone operator and its iconic closing line- “We’re the telephone company, snort. We don’t have to care.”
Some days it seems that Telus Corporation, the Vancouver based multinational telecommunications giant, has adopted Ernestine’s slogan to guide not only its customer service but also its labour relations policy.
Telus presents itself as a corporate good guy, festooning its aggressive public relations campaign with cute animals gamboling and cheerful Telus employees doing good works in the community, and claiming in its annual report: “ We are the leading social capitalism company in the world, thanks to our people, purpose and passion for putting customers and communities first. We are laser-focused on making a meaningful difference around the world and demonstrate it through every aspect of our business – from our interactions with customers, world-leading networks and innovative technology, to our caring culture and legacy of community investment.”
While Ernestine’s defiant slogan may well guide company policy in practice, the public facing slogan is something more anodyne about making “the future friendly.” Spoiler alert, this focus on a friendly future does not seem to influence the telecom giant’s actual labour policies. Just ask its long-suffering workers employed in Turkey, where it employs around 1,500 workers who monitor Tik Tok content.
Over 60 per cent of these workers chose last year to join the Çağrı-İş union. The union said in a recent statement that “Telus’s anti-worker and anti-union stance is growing worse every day. On 7 January, Telus unfairly dismissed leading union member, Hasan Hüseyin Yavuz, prompting workers to stage an ongoing protest at the company’s location in Izmir.”
Meanwhile, the union says pressure on workers still inside the company is intensifying, particularly for those involved in union efforts. Mobbing has increased; breaks are being denied, and performance pressure is being used to wear workers down.
None of this will surprise readers who are familiar with social critics like Joel Bakan, whose The New Corporation, recently reviewed here outlines the way that allegedly “new corporations” use claims of social virtue to disguise the same old class war strategies.
The United Steelworkers (USW), which represents thousands of Telus workers in Canada, is calling on the Canadian government to confront Telus about its union busting in Turkey. In a recent press release, USW says: “The USW has previously expressed its concerns directly to Telus regarding its treatment of workers in Turkiye. On Jan. 14, 2025, the USW wrote to the Canadian ambassador to Turkiye, Kevin Hamilton, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Labour and International Trade, asking Canadian authorities to intercede with Telus concerning its abuse of labour rights in Turkiye.”
Labour Start, an international worker solidarity organization, has recently launched a campaign to allow folks to support the Telus workers in Turkey. I encourage all my readers to follow this link and weigh in on the side of the brave workers standing up to Telus.
I reached out to Telus for comment about their union busting in Turkey, and received this reply:
“At TELUS Digital, we are dedicated to maintaining a positive, inclusive, and supportive workplace for all our team members. Across Türkiye and globally, we prioritize open communication, collaboration, and continuous improvement to ensure that our team members feel valued, heard, and respected.
As part of this commitment, we regularly review and enhance our workplace policies and conditions, reflecting our dedication to fairness, transparency, and employee well-being. We remain engaged with our team Türkiye to foster an environment where everyone can thrive, contribute, and grow within a safe and rewarding workplace.
We have a longstanding tradition of working with unions. However, it is important to note that, following a sectoral reclassification, the Turkish Çağrı-İş union does not meet the required legal threshold and therefore has no authority to represent our team members or engage in collective bargaining.”
This bland assertion of corporate good intentions and exemplary behaviour is unpersuasive in light of the direct testimony of workers about the union busting pressure they are experiencing, and it is worth noting that the International Trade Union Confederation rates Turkey as one of the 10 worst countries in the world for working people.
The head of the union that represents Telus workers in Turkey told the United Steelworkers on January 31 that: “Telus Turkey workers unionized due to pressures such as falling wages, workplace harassment and increasing workload. We know very well that Telus is turning to countries like Turkey to get rid of USW members in Canada and to employ non-unionized workers. We, under the leadership of the workers of Telus Turkey, are stopping their assaults. We know that gaining our union rights will be an achievement both for workers in Turkey and for workers in Canada and other countries. This is why we cannot give up. We are determined to continue until we get our union rights.”
And we should support them.
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