A telecommunications firm has stirred controversy after it sacked 400 workers after a 10-minute video conference call meetings
The layoff by Canada-based telecommunications giant, Bell is now causing concerns in labour quarters, with the country’s largest private sector union, UNIFOR, flaking the action as “beyond shameful” .
UNIFOR has issued a release to convey its dissatisfaction especially as neither employees nor labour union representatives were allowed to ask questions.
“Our members, who have devoted years of service to this telecoms and media giant, are being repaid with pink slips,” said Daniel Cloutier, Unifor’s Quebec director, in a statement.
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This has been countered though by Bell’s communications director, Ellen Murphy.
Murphy in a statement to the Toronto Star, said the telecommunications firm did not leave the workers in the dark concerning its proposed layoff, but had been talking about it for over five weeks before eventually implementing the action.
About 4,800 positions, about 9% of workforce, were penciled for sack, as at February. CEO Mirko Bibic, told the Toronto Star, calling the cuts necessary to “simplify our organization and accelerate our transformation”.
It also queried why the company postponed Parliamentary hearings at which it was to be questioned about the layoffs.
Now reports are referring to a similar incident in in 2021 when some Bell Media employees were reportedly notified they were being let go in brief conference calls.
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