The Origins of Telus

TELUS' Alberta origins began with Alberta Government Telephones, which was established by the provincial Liberal government between 1905 and 1912 to acquire and operate Bell Canada operations in the province, which were scant, inadequate for the growing settlements, and which the government felt that Bell neglected in favour of central Canada. AGT was then commissioned to develop telephone services for the entire province. Edmonton, however, had a city-owned telephone utility, EdTel, that contracted for long distance with AGT.

Tensions erupted between AGT and EdTel in the early 1980s, as EdTel wanted more revenue from the long distance traffic it generated for AGT. Without any willingness by AGT to negotiate, EdTel began scrambling long distance billing records so that AGT could not bill for calls. AGT responded by routing all originating EdTel calls through the operators, who verbally requested the caller for the number they were calling from. Eventually, the companies agreed on a more compensatory arrangement.

The brand name "TELUS" was first used, in 1990, as a new name for the former Alberta Government Telephones after this organization was privatized by the Alberta provincial government. In 1995, Telus purchased EdTel from the City of Edmonton, ending the era of government-owned telecommunications carriers in Alberta.

A new version of TELUS was formed in January 1999 via the merger of General Telephone and Electronics, (now part of Verizon) subsidiary BC Tel, the former monopoly telecommunications service provider in British Columbia, and the "Alberta only" version of Telus. Although BC Tel was the larger of the two merging companies the new entity decided to retain the TELUS name, abandoning the regional connotations of the BC Tel brand, while expanding its reach to compete on a national and international scale. TELUS also chose to move most administration functions to Alberta to take advantage of lower taxes and a work force that was less union oriented.

In March 2000, TELUS obtained a controlling interest in QuébecTel, a local service provider in southern Quebec. Later the same year TELUS acquired Clearnet Communications Inc., a digital mobile telephone provider based in Scarborough, Ontario, which it combined with TELUS Mobility to form a wireless telecommunications service provider with national scope.

In May 2004, TELUS, via its TELUS Mobility division, made a $1.1-billion bid for Microcell Telecommunications (holders of the Fido brand name), seeking further expansion in the fast-growing wireless communications sector but was eventually outbid by Rogers Communications.

Today, TELUS Mobility has over 4.4 million subscribers, making it closer to Bell Mobility. TELUS also operates on the iDen network, owned and operated by Motorola. The service is known as Mike. Its service is targeted at businesses, not personal usage.

In late 2005, TELUS launched "TELUS TV", a digital television service similar to digital cable, in Edmonton and Calgary. This service is designed to compete with locally-available cable and satellite TV services, with plans to expand the availability of this service to other areas in the future. However, for technical reasons, TELUS TV subscribers must also be subscribers to TELUS' ADSL Internet service.

Labour Problems
TELUS' labour dispute with the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) began shortly after the previous contract (which was negotiated with BC Tel, rather than TELUS, before the two merged) expired at the end of 2000. On April 12, 2005, TELUS made, to date, its last offer to the TWU. On July 12, TELUS informed the TWU of its intention to bring an end to the dispute by unilaterally implementing its April offer to employees in Alberta and British Columbia, effective on July 22; the TWU set up pickets on July 21.

The TWU was most concerned with outsourcing and contracting out; TELUS was insistent that it needed a more flexible contract. Picketers in British Columbia refused to cross picket lines, while in Alberta, the company announced on September 14 that an independent review conducted by Ernst & Young LLP had found that a majority of bargaining unit employees in Alberta had crossed picket lines and were actively working at TELUS as of August 31; the union maintained that only 20 to 25 per cent of its members in Alberta had returned to work.

The significance of the Ernst & Young report was debated by both sides. The union maintained that the review was not an "audit" as defined by the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants; Ernst & Young, consequently, did not give any opinion on the results. The union also claimed that the TELUS payroll also included workers on disability and maternity leave, as well as bargaining unit employees who were sent pay stubs for $0. (TELUS had been sending these pay stubs to remind employees that benefits to which they would normally contribute had not been discontinued and that the amount that they would be required to contribute would continue to accrue. The union, consequently, accused the company of using intimidation tactics.) The company, for its part, continues to maintain that only employees who actually crossed picket lines and were actively working were included in their statistics.

The dispute also had ramifications outside of western Canada. Although the job action only covered TWU members, which were TELUS employees in western Canada only, managers at TELUS' call centre in Montreal were asked to enforce an emergency plan requiring all employees to return to work immediately. Still, the bulk of hostilities between the company and the union occurred near picket lines in western Canada.

After the deterioration of the labour situation in July, a number of incidents occurred surrounding TELUS and the TWU. A spike in vandalism of phone lines was reported, particularly in the Vancouver area; a number of areas there reported having phone or data lines cut. TELUS originally placed responsibility for the line cuts on the TWU; the union, in turn, blamed the problem on criminals seeking high-grade copper contained within telecommunication cables, which often fetches a high price on the black market. Nevertheless, TELUS was forced to make repairs for such line cuts a number one priority, as customers without phone service could not call 9-1-1. A number of arrests were made in connection with the vandalism, but none of the suspects were identified as TWU members.

On August 31, 2005, a security incident occurred outside TELUS' store at Metropolis at Metrotown, when a package with a number of wires sticking out of it was left outside the store. The entire complex was evacuated while the bomb squad investigated and found the package to be harmless. Police would not say if the incident was related to the labour dispute.

In early September 2005, an automobile accident knocked out phone service to about 70 TELUS customers on Gabriola Island, one of whom requires a direct 9-1-1 line due to a medical condition. A standoff ensued when picketing TWU members refused to allow a specialized TELUS repair truck onto the island, with TELUS accusing the TWU of endangering the lives of its customers. The situation was resolved the following week when TELUS crews were flown to the island instead via helicopter; the crews, still, were only able to make band-aid repairs to the phone system, (The temporary repairs resulted in telephone wires being left on the ground, as workers were unable to attach them back on the poles.)

On September 7, an anthrax scare occurred at TELUS' main office building in Burnaby, when an envelope containing white powder was left on the sixteenth floor. The ventilation system was turned off and the management staff inside were quarantined before officials found the substance to be a harmless body-building product. Police believe this incident was connected to the ongoing labour problems; the union, however, maintains that its BC members have not crossed any picket lines and hence could not have been behind the scare, as the building has been behind pickets since the beginning of the dispute.

Another issue surrounding the dispute was the role of Accufax Investigations International (AFI), a security company specializing in labour disputes, hired by TELUS to watch over its buildings and managers. AFI has been accused of engaging in strike-breaking in the past, and a number of incidents involving picketers scuffling with AFI guards were reported, including one well-publicized incident in which a picketer and a security guard became involved in a scuffle after the picketer put his hand in front of a videocamera the guard was operating. Security guards videotaped picketers in an attempt to enforce a number of injunctions aimed at keeping the peace around picket sites; the union, however, has maintained that security, in several instances, attempted to instigate fights and that the videotaping was intended as an intimidation tactic.

On September 26, talks resumed between the company and the union after a five month layoff, and the two sides reached a tentative agreement on October 10. On October 30, union membership, however, voted against ratification, which failed with only 50.3% voting against the tentative agreement. A second agreement was reached the following week, and on November 18, 2005, the contract was ratified with 64.1% of TWU members voting for ratification, ending the long and acrimonious dispute.