Telus Mobility wins battle over contempt of order application at Federal Court

Telus Mobility has won a contempt of order hearing at the Federal Court of Canada against the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) over the way the wireless operator activates new subscribers in the province of British Columbia. The TWU sought a decision against the company and executive VP employees services David Wells for failing to comply with a Jan. 30, 2002 arbitrator’s ruling that later became an order of the Federal Court. The December 6 decision by the Federal Court’s trial division essentially vindicates the company and allows it to continue to use its existing subscriber activation software in its current form. The TWU claimed that unionized customer activation representatives had been taken out of the subscriber activation process as a result of technological advancements in activation software, which it claimed violated agreements and rulings dating back to 1992. Despite efforts by Telus Mobility to deploy software that reintroduced activation agents into the subscriber activation process, the union continued to maintain that the company was in breach of the court order. As a matter of law the applicant must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had in fact willfully acted in contravention of the statutes. In dismissing the application, the Federal Court ruled that, according to the evidence, it could not find beyond a reasonable doubt that Telus Mobility had in fact been in contempt of the court order. "Having carefully reviewed the wording of the arbitrator’s order, I can only conclude, based on the evidence, that the union has failed to overcome its onus to enjoin Telus Mobility and David Wells for contempt," Justice Paul Rouleau wrote in his decision. The matter in question goes back several years when Telus Mobility began to implement newer and more advanced IT systems that were designed to speed up the activation of new wireless subscribers. In the late 1990s, Telus introduced the electronic transfer of contract (ETOC) system, which replaced fax transmissions with an electronic buffer. The unionized agents were still involved in the process, but their work was greatly reduced. The TWU took issue with the system, but an arbitrator upheld the company’s position on May 20, 1998. In 2000, the company introduced a remote dealer activation (RDA) system, which eliminated the need for activation representatives in the subscriber activation process. It later moved the British Columbia operation to Alberta, completely bypassing the need for B.C. unionized agents. In subsequent proceedings, Telus Mobility acknowledged that its latest system did eliminate the need for unionized employees in British Columbia, contravening provisions of a 1992 Letter of Agreement between the union and the company. It sought to rectify the situation. Ultimately, that led to the introduction of the Apollo.02 system. The system implemented an electronic buffer, with which the unionized activation agents would validate new cell phone subscriptions. The TWU, however, still believed that the Apollo.02 software contravened previous court rulings and specifically sought a contempt of order ruling against the company and Wells for failing to comply with the prior court decisions. Ultimately, the Federal Court ruled in favour of Telus’ position. It also noted that the company’s Apollo.02 subscriber activation software does comply with provisions set out in the original ruling. The court pointed out that the original ruling gave no indication as to the level of participation of unionized activation representatives in the activation process. "The evidence reveals that the only difference between ETOC and RDA is that under the latter, there could be an activation or a change to electronic serial numbers (ESN) without the intervention of a bargaining unit employee. However, under the Apollo.02 system, a change was introduced requiring some intervention into the process, thus fulfilling the second component of the arbitrator’s order. Regardless of how mundane the task of pressing or not the approval button may be, it is now a necessary and critical step in both activation and ESN changes," Justice Rouleau wrote in his decision.

Telus Mobility wins battle over contempt of order application at Federal Court

News | 12/20/2002 5:00 am EST

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