An effort to unionize front-line managers is sweeping through Bell Canada.
Canada’s largest telecommunications union is seeking certification for 8,000 managers at Bell Canada.
While unionized managers are rare in Canada, there is evidence to indicate that the numbers are climbing.
More and more, statistics are showing that employees in professional jobs like the finance sector for example, are increasingly joining unions.
According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey 2000 Perspectives on Labour and Income, more than nine per cent of employees in management positions are union members and more than 12 per cent of non-unionized managers are covered by a collective agreement. The number of unionized managers has slowly climbed over last year’s figure of 8.8 per cent. The number covered under collective agreements has stayed constant from last year.
The total union rate in Canada rose in the first half of the year over last year.
“There seems to be a need for people who manage others to benefit from unionization. Obviously these people feel short-changed,” says Judy Haiven, assistant professor in the department of management at St. Mary’s University in Halifax.
The decision to unionize at Bell comes a year after a survey conducted by the Association of Telephone Management Employees (ATME) found that more than three-quarters of members were in favour of bringing in a union.
The ATME approached the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), which already represents 11,000 Bell workers in Ontario and Quebec, and has taken over the campaigning efforts.
“(Employees) have been feeling that it is becoming more and more difficult to be heard with simply consulting with the employer. They have been feeling less and less successful with talks with the employer,” says Bob Hatfield, director of organizing for CEP.
At the heart of the decision to begin union certification at Bell Canada are concerns over fair compensation and increases in workload.
Hatfield says first and second level managers — those who work closest with employees — are now expected to work 45 hours per week but without an increase in pay.
“It rubs people the wrong way when they aren’t being treated fairly.”
On top of years of frustration over layoffs and downsizing, Bell managers want more control than is now afforded to them by a staff association that consults with the employer but has no formal bargaining powers.
Haiven says having a union offers that control, protecting against arbitrary layoffs and maintaining a formal grievance process.
“There is more security in belonging to a union and they’ve seen it in the line workers,” says Haiven.
Union reps have already begun the campaigning efforts, with meetings in Montreal and Toronto late last month.
Fear of reprisal tops the list of employee concerns but Hatfield says that by going public with the campaign, employees should feel a greater sense of security.
“If we let the employer know what we are doing and give them the names of people internally who are involved, it reduces that fear of reprisal among employees.”
The decision to inform Bell about the campaign is unusual but considering the circumstances — the large number of employees, CEP’s history with Bell — Hatfield says “it’s not something you can keep secret for long.”
CEP informed Bell about the campaign in a letter to Jean Monty, CEO of BCE Inc., Bell’s parent company, in early October.
Bell has been tight-lipped about the campaign, partly because of restrictions built into the Canada Labour Code, that covers the telecommunications industry.
François Taschereau, vice-president of corporate communications at Bell, says departments are responding to inquiries from managers but would not elaborate about the types of concerns being brought forward.
“This is not the type of situation where we can say a lot. We have communicated to our employees that we will respect their right to consider the pros and cons.”
Canada’s largest telecommunications union is seeking certification for 8,000 managers at Bell Canada.
While unionized managers are rare in Canada, there is evidence to indicate that the numbers are climbing.
More and more, statistics are showing that employees in professional jobs like the finance sector for example, are increasingly joining unions.
According to Statistics Canada’s Labour Force Survey 2000 Perspectives on Labour and Income, more than nine per cent of employees in management positions are union members and more than 12 per cent of non-unionized managers are covered by a collective agreement. The number of unionized managers has slowly climbed over last year’s figure of 8.8 per cent. The number covered under collective agreements has stayed constant from last year.
The total union rate in Canada rose in the first half of the year over last year.
“There seems to be a need for people who manage others to benefit from unionization. Obviously these people feel short-changed,” says Judy Haiven, assistant professor in the department of management at St. Mary’s University in Halifax.
The decision to unionize at Bell comes a year after a survey conducted by the Association of Telephone Management Employees (ATME) found that more than three-quarters of members were in favour of bringing in a union.
The ATME approached the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada (CEP), which already represents 11,000 Bell workers in Ontario and Quebec, and has taken over the campaigning efforts.
“(Employees) have been feeling that it is becoming more and more difficult to be heard with simply consulting with the employer. They have been feeling less and less successful with talks with the employer,” says Bob Hatfield, director of organizing for CEP.
At the heart of the decision to begin union certification at Bell Canada are concerns over fair compensation and increases in workload.
Hatfield says first and second level managers — those who work closest with employees — are now expected to work 45 hours per week but without an increase in pay.
“It rubs people the wrong way when they aren’t being treated fairly.”
On top of years of frustration over layoffs and downsizing, Bell managers want more control than is now afforded to them by a staff association that consults with the employer but has no formal bargaining powers.
Haiven says having a union offers that control, protecting against arbitrary layoffs and maintaining a formal grievance process.
“There is more security in belonging to a union and they’ve seen it in the line workers,” says Haiven.
Union reps have already begun the campaigning efforts, with meetings in Montreal and Toronto late last month.
Fear of reprisal tops the list of employee concerns but Hatfield says that by going public with the campaign, employees should feel a greater sense of security.
“If we let the employer know what we are doing and give them the names of people internally who are involved, it reduces that fear of reprisal among employees.”
The decision to inform Bell about the campaign is unusual but considering the circumstances — the large number of employees, CEP’s history with Bell — Hatfield says “it’s not something you can keep secret for long.”
CEP informed Bell about the campaign in a letter to Jean Monty, CEO of BCE Inc., Bell’s parent company, in early October.
Bell has been tight-lipped about the campaign, partly because of restrictions built into the Canada Labour Code, that covers the telecommunications industry.
François Taschereau, vice-president of corporate communications at Bell, says departments are responding to inquiries from managers but would not elaborate about the types of concerns being brought forward.
“This is not the type of situation where we can say a lot. We have communicated to our employees that we will respect their right to consider the pros and cons.”
