Telus Workers Ratify New Deal Months Ahead of Contract Expiry

Telus workers represented by the Telecommunications Workers Union, United Steelworkers Local 1944 have ratified a new collective agreement covering more than 3,000 employees across Canada, the company said in a press release Monday.

The new deal runs from April 1, 2027 to December 31, 2031, arriving about five months before the current contract expires at the end of March, and it follows years of voluntary buyouts and Canadian headcount cuts that have been a steady point of tension between the carrier and its union.

According to the United Steelworkers, members approved the tentative agreement reached on October 20 by an 83 per cent majority after a series of virtual ratification meetings. Local president Michael Phillips said members wanted “stability and security” in their jobs, and that is what the bargaining committee set out to deliver.

Total wage increases under the new contract come to 12.25 per cent over the term. The union also says the deal locks in pension and benefit stability, strengthens job protections tied to the redeployment of work, adds new limits on GPS tracking of workers, and includes fresh commitments around the possible reshoring of work.

Call centre and technical support staff, along with technicians who maintain cellular infrastructure and serve residential and business customers, are covered by the agreement. Those members work in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

“Thank you to our team members for supporting this agreement and to both bargaining teams for their constructive work,” said Victor Dodig, President and CEO of Telus. “Reaching an agreement well ahead of the current contract’s expiry provides stability for our team members and our business, allowing us to focus together on delivering the reliable service and outstanding experiences our customers count on.”

USW Staff Representative Jayson Little said both sides brought a respectful and professional approach to the talks, which helped the parties reach a deal relatively quickly once bargaining was under way.

Local 1944 sits inside the United Steelworkers after the former Telecommunications Workers Union voted in 2014 to merge with the USW, a change that took effect on January 1, 2015. The bargaining unit’s last major contract fight stretched over 14 months before workers ratified the current deal in March 2023 by about 70 per cent, after a near-unanimous strike mandate in late 2022 and the rejection of an earlier company offer.

Job security has remained a live issue since then. Telus announced a global restructuring in 2023 that targeted about 6,000 positions, followed by further net reductions in 2024 and another drop of roughly 2,800 Canadian jobs in 2025 even as its overseas Telus Digital workforce grew. In January 2026, the union said nearly 700 more workers, including more than 500 Local 1944 members in Business Solutions, had been offered voluntary severance packages. The company has framed those offers as a response to self-serve tools and industry change, while the union has argued that repeated Canadian cuts hurt service quality and local employment.

Against that backdrop, both sides are casting the early ratification as a bid for longer-term workplace stability rather than another countdown to a March 2027 expiry cliff. Customers will still be watching whether the new redeployment and reshoring language changes how work is staffed on the ground.

Does a multi-year labour deal this far ahead of expiry make you more confident in Telus service stability, or will the next rounds of staffing decisions matter more?