Telus is offering another round of voluntary severance packages to Canadian workers, a move the union representing many of those employees says will lead to more job losses and weaker service for customers.
According to the United Steelworkers, nearly 700 workers across the country have been offered voluntary severance packages, including more than 500 union members. The cuts affect Telus Business Solutions staff in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec.
The offer from Telus comes nearly one year after the company offered voluntary severance to almost 700 employees across Canada. Doing the math, that’s nearly 1,400 severance offers in under a year.
Michael Phillips, president of USW Local 1944, which represents about 4,000 Telus employees, said workers have less than two weeks to decide whether to accept the packages, with a deadline of Jan. 21. “Further workforce reductions at Telus will hurt communities and the Canadian economy, and will only exacerbate Canadians’ growing dissatisfaction with the service they’re receiving from telecommunications companies,” Phillips said on Friday.
Phillips pointed to a rise in customer complaints as a warning sign. He said complaints from Telus customers to the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services jumped 62 percent in 2025 compared to the year before. “Canadians are not happy with the quality of service they’re getting at the moment, and Telus cutting jobs is not going to help,” he said.
The union also criticized Ottawa for not doing more to protect telecom jobs or service standards, arguing that job cuts are happening while politicians talk about productivity problems in Canada. “The federal government keeps saying we have a productivity problem in Canada. They should be ensuring higher telecom services standards for business, rather than standing by as companies like Telus cut business services,” Phillips said.
Here’s a brief overview of Telus job cuts over the past few years:
When reached for comment, a Telus spokesperson told iPhone in Canada the following statement on Friday:
This is the same voluntary separation program we implemented in 2025, fueled by rapid transformation in our industry and the growing customer demand for self-serve solutions. As a result, we’re offering generous voluntary financial packages that exceed the requirements of the Canada Labour Code and give team members the option to retire or pursue a career outside of our organization.
It is a standard operating practice for us to offer voluntary departure packages to a broad number of team members across the regions we operate in, in an effort to be fair and equitable to those in the impacted work areas. We anticipate a very small number of the team members being canvassed will be interested in accepting the offer, and we reserve the right to limit the number of departures.
The United Steelworkers said it will continue pushing the federal government to step in, arguing that continued job losses threaten both Canadian workers and the country’s telecom infrastructure.
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I just switched to Telus because of the cost compared to Rogers. However Customer support is a lost cause!
Out of curiosity…what is it that one would need support for if you just switched? Your phone is not working? Your bill is not what you thought? An they don't have any help you could use online, rather than waiting on hold for hours?
Just switched after finally getting hold of actual tech. He resolved the problem and now everything is fine. I’m somewhat impatient when something does not work right away! My bad!