The coming merger of the United Steelworkers and Telecommunications Workers is a major win for both unions, and could help the labour movement organize more non-union workers in the telecom sector, backers say.

Brad James, the Steelworkers' organizing co-ordinator, said the union is looking forward to working with TWU on expanding collective bargaining in the telecom industry.

The Steelworkers has thousands of members working in communications-related jobs, such as call centres, but this will be the union's first foray into the broader telecom industry, James said. "We have a very diverse membership, our members work in a lot of jobs that are like the TWU [members' jobs], but this is a new sector for the steelworkers, and one we're very happy to work in," he said in an interview with QP Briefing.

Lee Riggs, the TWU's national president, said news of the merger, which goes into effect Jan. 1, has led to several worker groups reaching out to TWU since last Friday – including one in Ontario – expressing interest in joining the union. Five or six have expressed interest over the past two months, Riggs said.

The TWU represents nearly 13,000 workers across Canada, including 1,200 at Telus operations in Barrie and the eastern Toronto suburb of Scarborough.

In addition to growing membership, the TWU gains a boost to its collective bargaining muscle ahead of two major contract re-negotiations over the next two years.

Early next year, 700 Shaw employees in B.C. represented by the TWU will meet to renegotiate contracts, with an end of March deadline. And in 2016, roughly 10,000 Telus workers across Canada — including 900 in Scarborough and 300 in Barrie, Ontario — will be up for contract renewal.

"Right now we're 13,000 bargaining unit employees, and by merging with the United Steel Workers, [it's] 225,000. That gives us full access into their strategic campaigns organization, to the economists and legal counsel that they have on staff on their end. But it also allows our members access to their educational department, which is very important to us as well."

James said the merger will also give both unions a larger political platform to speak about federal labour law issues. Many US Steel members work under the federal labour code, as do the majority of the TWU's members.

"We represent lots of people who work under the federal code, so it strengthens our voice there, and with the changes that the Harper government's pushing around workers' rights and labour law — we oppose those changes — we think this strengthens our voice in doing that, and we're allied with the TWU on those things," he said.

The pending merger comes after a vote tallied late last Friday showed members of the telecom workers' union voted 73 per cent in favour of joining the much larger steelworkers' group.

The TWU also represents workers at Shaw Communications, as well as related industries, while the United Steelworkers has 225,000 members working in every region and sector in Canada.

The latest merger follows a deal last year that created Unifor from the former Canadian Auto Workers and Communications, Energy and Paper Workers unions.

Steelworkers gain telecom foothold while TWU gets bargaining power

Read this for free.