Telus has offered voluntary severance packages and retirement buyouts to nearly 2,000 unionized customer support employees in Canada, according to media reports.

What’s happening: The telecommunications giant offered the packages to customer support staff for wireless and residential services.

• Employees who accept the voluntary severance offer will receive a lump-sum payment of one month of severance for every year of service, up to 18 months.
• If a Telus worker takes early retirement, they will receive one month’s pay for every year worked, up to a maximum of 12 months.
• Telus workers who accept the severance offer early will receive additional “enhancements,” including $1,000 per year of service up to a maximum of $20,000 and a $500 bonus.
• The deadline for Telus’ severance offer is June 9, with departures set for Summer 2023 and as late as October.
• Employees who don’t take the buyout could be redeployed to another area of the company, which may result in schedule changes.
• The offer has not been made to Chinese-language workers, bilingual or French agents, or tech support employees.

What Telus is saying: Spokesperson Richard Gilhooley indicated that the 2,000 customer service positions are being replaced by new technology.

• “We’ve made significant investments in customer service technology and self-serve capabilities to provide our customers with more service options,” he said via email.
• “We recently offered a voluntary program to some team members. We anticipate a small...

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