Manitoba Liberal Party Calls Out Bell MTS's Broken Promise to Manitobans and TEAM-IFTPE Local 161 Members

The Manitoba Liberal Party issued a statement drawing attention to Bell-MTS in response to the continuing loss of good union jobs at the telecommunication company and the broken promise to the City of Winnipeg when Bell Canada and MTS merged in 2016.

In the statement, Dougald Lamont, Manitoba Liberal Leader, stated that, “Instead of increasing investments, Bell MTS reduced investments in our province by cutting jobs, and they are outsourcing work when there are qualified people in Manitoba who can do the jobs.”

The provincial Liberal Party notes that,

“TEAM - IFTPE Local 161, which represents Bell MTS workers, says there have been nine rounds of downsizing from their bargaining unit alone since the Bell MTS merger. The most recent one was just announced on May 9th, targeting up to 31 positions in Information Technology for reduction, almost a quarter of remaining IT jobs in TEAM. Since 2015, TEAM jobs in Manitoba have been cut by over 50% down from over 1,200 to less than 600 today, with almost 300 jobs lost under Bell in the past 5 years.”

At the time of the merger in 2016 through 2017, which had supported by the Progressive Conservative government of Premier Brian Pallister, Bell responded to concerns about the merger by reassuring the public that the new company would make Winnipeg the hub for the telecom’s Western Canadian operation and invest in the province.

The attention on Bell-MTS comes at a time when TEAM-Local 161 is in negotiations to make sure that Bell-MTS employees in Manitoba have the chance to compete for jobs at the company, as the company posts vacancies throughout the country.

TEAM Executive Director Erin Spencer is quoted in the statement, saying “Bell admits the jobs can be performed in Manitoba and that employees here have the skills and qualifications to do the work but won’t provide us with the opportunities.”

Read the Manitoba Liberal Party’s statement here.