After over three and a half months of walking the picket line, a Sechelt commuter's struggle to keep her job at a Telus centre in Burnaby will likely end with the centre closing down.
"I'm out here for a job that likely doesn't exist in February," Dianne Lane said.
In the latest collective agreement being mailed out to Telecommunications Workers' Union (TWU) members this week, Telus would close its operations at offices in Victoria, Glenlyon in Burnaby and Whalley next February, according to the TWU's website.
Lane, 57, lives in Sechelt with her 79-year-old mother who Lane supports on her single income. Lane had been commuting to the Glenlyon technology and operations centre in Burnaby before the labour dispute began July 21. The TWU has been paying $300 a week to its members during the dispute, according to local TWU member Jim Brown.Throughout the dispute, Lane, as with other workers, found it tough to take on a second or new job because of the uncertainty of if and for how long she'd be returning to Telus once the dispute ends.
If the membership ratifies the current deal, employees at the closing centres would choose whether to be deployed to another centre in the Lower Mainland or to Calgary if space is available, or take a buy-out package or early retirement. Lane said the closures affect about 375 workers.
Telus has agreed to keep call centres open in New Westminster, Canada Way, Willingdon and Prince George for the duration of the five-year contract.
Telus could not comment on the current agreement because of its communications embargo while the deal is going before workers. The final vote day is Nov. 16.
Lane has worked for Telus for 11 years but said some of her co-workers have only ever worked for Telus."It's really traumatic for people who have never worked for another company," Lane said. "Wages mean nothing because when your job's gone, you don't get the wages."
In the recent vote on a deal between Telus and the TWU, which the TWU endorsed to its members who rejected it by a narrow margin, Lane voted yes. "I'm looking at survival of the union," she said.
TWU spokespeople could not be reached for comment before Coast Reporter's deadline.
