At a federal industry committee hearing on Monday, Rogers CEO Tony Staffieri faced tough questions about job losses following the company’s 2023 merger with Shaw. This was beyond the criticism and questions he faced over recent TV box rental price increases.
While Staffieri highlighted the creation of 1,800 new jobs in Western Canada as part of Rogers’ promises to the government for approving the merger, he did not answer on the number of employees who left or were let go.
According to the Globe and Mail, data suggests that over 3,000 jobs were cut or left vacant during the merger, based on employee figures from Rogers, Shaw, and Quebecor, which acquired Freedom Mobile as part of the deal.
Rogers has not shared the exact number of jobs lost, but a spokesperson confirmed that workforce reductions included voluntary departures.
“Overall, we reduced our workforce by a small percentage, including through a voluntary departure program,” said Rogers spokesperson Zac Carreiro. He added, “in any given year, some employees decide to leave the company for other opportunities, and some retire. We also hire staff, and that’s been no exception since coming together with Shaw.”
“We remain committed to creating thousands of jobs over the next few years as we accelerate our growth and invest in our networks and communities,” said the Rogers spokesperson.
Rogers had to promise job creation to get federal approve for taking over Shaw. It said it was going to create 3,000 jobs in the first five years in Western Canada, and keep them for at least 10 years.
The first report to the feds showed Rogers created only 812 jobs in Western Canada over the past year, which included bringing 300 customer service jobs back home to Canada from overseas.
Rogers also said it is still on track for its $2.5 billion investment in 5G and $3 billion to expand its network services in Western Canada.
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Why don't we just can the CRTC in its entirety and save the taxpayers the money it takes to run it.
Apparently these tele-cos do pretty well just what they want to – when they want to – how they want to.
That is obviously fake news…Teddy Robbers himself said there won't be job cuts. Maybe "eliminated" but not cut. 🤣
Spineless CRTC and the alcoholic beverages minister turned a blind eye and pretended to believe.
I'm sure they also believed this move was "good in terms of boosting competition".
3000 people lose their jobs here and nobody bats an eye…Canada Blackmailers want 23.8% more money from a bankrupt Crown Corporation and they all start protecting "workers' rights".
We live in the Upside down world.
I am not allowed to say anything bad to them but I worked with them before and now I'm on EI.