The union representing Bell workers, Unifor, claims that hundreds of telco workers were "terminated on virtual group meetings" on Wednesday.

This allegation comes just a day after Unifor held a rally in Ottawa to criticize Bell Canada Enterprises Inc. for slashing 9 per cent of its workforce (4,800 jobs) in February while it continued to "rake in profits and increase payouts to shareholders."

At least 800 of the 19,000 telecom and media workers Unifor represents at Bell and its subsidiaries were affected by these cuts.

The rally was part of Unifor's "Shame on Bell" campaign, launched after the layoffs were announced.

"These members have been living in dread of a meeting invite to find out they've lost their job since Bell announced the termination of thousands of jobs almost six weeks ago," said Unifor National President Lana Payne.

"The truth is, Bell picked a number of heads to roll so it could increase its dividend payout without an actual plan on which jobs and which workers would be eliminated so the terminations are cruelly dragged out," she added.

Bell announces thousands of layoffs in largest restructuring in 30 years https://t.co/y67QMoaol8

— blogTO (@blogTO) February 8, 2024

The union says a notification was sent to more than 400 telco members in Bell's clerical bargaining unit to tell them they were being declared "surplus" and some would be eligible for a retirement incentive.

It further shared that on Wednesday morning, Bell's HR and labour manager, Christopher Corsi, held a 10-minute virtual meeting with workers, during which he read a notice. Allegedly, no union reps or members were allowed to unmute themselves during the call and ask anything.

Unifor said that Bell changed how these meetings will be held after it criticized this. Now, union reps will be identified, and people can unmute and ask questions.

The union's Quebec director, Daniel Cloutier, said its members have devoted years of service to Bell and are "being repaid with pink slips."

"If that's not beyond shameful, I don’t know what is," he concluded.

More big names from CTV National news axed in latest round of Bell Media layoffs https://t.co/pqesORWHT2

— blogTO (@blogTO) February 8, 2024

February's cuts were announced less than a year after Bell Media had a round of layoffs in June 2023, slashing 1,300 jobs.

"The mass termination of more than 6,000 workers in the last eight months occurred while BCE continues to rake in profits, reporting a whopping $2.3 billion profit at the end of last year," the union noted.

"Our dedicated, loyal workers, who are predominantly women, will have to explain to their families tonight that they are being let go from Bell for no good reason other than making sure that their shareholders and Board of Directors come first when getting paid," Unifor National Secretary-Treasurer Len Poiriers said on Wednesday evening.

He called the move "absolutely disgusting."

Lisa LaFlamme speaks out on 'painful and difficult day' after Bell Media layoffs #torontomorning #Toronto https://t.co/wXozPTm8Gs

— Toronto Morning (@toronto_morning) February 9, 2024

In a statement, Bell said it had been working with Unifor and other unions "on the impacts to our unionized workforce" since it announced company-wide restructuring on February 8.

"As planned with Unifor, on March 20, Bell initiated calls with groups of our unionized team members to give notice of upcoming actions taking place, which include both a voluntary separation program and surplus reductions," said a Bell spokesperson.

The company said that employees who were let go had "individual meetings with an HR representative to discuss their individual packages and to ask questions," with the option to invite a union representative to the meeting.

"Bell is offering departing surplus employees fair and competitive severance packages, including providing non-working notice and salary continuance as negotiated with the union," the spokesperson stated.

"Most of the employees are remote workers as enshrined in their collective bargaining agreement, and therefore all of these discussions are being handled remotely so that they are not called into an office."