Telecom giant Telus is claiming that a recent series of decisions by a Canadian labour tribunal have gone too far.

The Burnaby-based company claims the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) reached a wrong number in several rulings related to its collective bargaining process with the Telecommunications Workers Union.

Telus is now asking the board to re-examine its findings – particularly the labour board’s decision that Telus’s communications to its employees violated accepted collective bargaining practices and laws.

The company has also filed an appeal with the Federal Court over the ruling.

Telus officials were not available for comment.

As a result of the CIRB findings last month, Telus was told to offer binding arbitration to the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) in order to reach a collective agreement. The company responded, stating “it welcomed the opportunity to engage in binding arbitration.”

Prior to that point, Canada’s second- largest telecommunications company had faced the likelihood that more than 10,000 of its workers, all TWU members, would go on strike.

Union membership ended up voting 86.3 per cent in favour of strike action in late January.

A strike, however, became moot when the union’s executive council said on January 30 it was prepared to accept the binding arbitration offer put on the table earlier that week.

Despite the latest appeals, Telus said it will continue to participate in the arbitration discussions with the TWU.

At press time, that process was continuing with discussions focusing on the selection of an arbitrator and determining the terms of reference to be applied for the duration of the binding arbitration process, Telus said.

The parties are trying to come up with a contract that would combine four formerly separate collective agreements into one, an event that was the result of the February 1999 merger of B.C. Tel with Alberta’s Telus.

The two sides had started negotiating for a contract in late 1999, about a year before the old agreement expired.

Since November 2000 talks have been ongoing.

Union officials were not available for comment on Telus’s latest move.

(Laura Severs can be reached at laura@businessedge.ca)