Nearly 700 workers for Telus in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec have received voluntary severance packages in what the United Steelworkers (USW) is calling a “New Year gut punch.”Voluntary severance packages (VSPs) offer money for workers to leave their jobs. United Steelworkers members received 527 VSPs, as well as 171 members from two Quebec locals of the Canadian Union of Public Employees. “All of those things are made very clear to folks who are being offered the package.”Making sales a bigger part of a workers role has already had an impact on some Telus technicians, Phillips said. Many of these workers were hired to do repairs and installation but are now expected to make sales while they work. Phillips said the USW is monitoring Telus’ financial situation closely and many workers are feeling resentment for becoming the punching bag for their employers’ financial pressures.

Source: Punch January 20, 2026 00:25 UTC