'Privatization by stealth': union says province slowly bleeding jobs at SaskTel

The union representing SaskTel workers is accusing the provincial government of "privatization by stealth."

Over the past few months, Unifor has been running a campaign to "Stop SaskTel Privatization."

"I call it privatization by stealth and death by 1,000 cuts," said Unifor Local 1-S president Dave Kuntz.

"They're slowly using contractors. It's not wholesale, 500 jobs at a time. It's five jobs here, 10 jobs here, 40 jobs here."

He said the company is not laying off workers, but also not filling jobs when people retire or leave. He said those jobs are being combined, changed into part-time positions or contracted to workers outside of Saskatchewan.

Unifor represents 2,700 SaskTel employees across the province.

Kuntz said in recent months companies in Alberta, Manitoba and the Maritimes are doing work in areas like sales, IT and installation that could have gone to SaskTel workers.

He said seeing Alberta licence plates on vehicles installing SaskTel services is "frustrating."

"I mean those jobs could be done in-house. I don't see any reason why we're not having full-time jobs here at SaskTel."

Kuntz said customer service will eventually suffer and "that will make it become ripe for privatization."

Unifor and SaskTel have a five-year contract agreement that expires in 2024. Kuntz said the union will be proposing strong anti-contracting-out language in the next collective agreement.

Kuntz said hiring out-of-province contractors or companies flies in the face of the messaging from the provincial government, which says a major goal is to create jobs and grow the economy.

"We want good-paying, full-time jobs, good benefits in this province. We don't want to see them going to contractors out of province. That money that leaves the province is gone forever."

CBC requested an interview with SaskTel to respond to Unifor's criticism, but a media spokesperson for the Crown said no one was available. Instead, it provided a statement.