Union attempts to block launch of Wind Mobile

[kEiThZ]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aorT6_xVIzl4

What the hell? The first company to bring real competition to the telecom sector in Canada in a decade and this union is now trying to get the court to impose an anti-competitive decision on the government.

The government made a sensible decision. These guys don't like it. So instead of improving their product and services to compete, what do they do? Sue. And play partisan politics by criticizing the government.

And of course they sue the only company in the telecom sector that's hiring and has a 100% Canadian workforce. How come they kept quiet when Bell, Telus and Rogers shipped call centre jobs overseas (to India and the Phillipines)?

 

[adeel]

1. I dont see why the union is against (more telecom jobs = greater union membership?)
2. I dont see what gives the union the right to take this to court?

 

[kEiThZ]

1. The union is pissed because Wind's employees aren't unionized.
2. I am wondering that too. Policy is the pergoative of government. As is interpretation of policy. I am curious to see how they can force the courts to impose a policy on the government.

 

[afransen]

The government still has to obey the law as written, and the courts do the interpreting.

 

[Uncle Teddy]

Why shouldn't they complain? Why should Bell, Telus and Rogers have to work within one set of rules while Wind Mobile gets a special set of rules? I'm sure the existing companies would love to get access to foreign capital.

And of course they sue the only company in the telecom sector that's hiring and has a 100% Canadian workforce. How come they kept quiet when Bell, Telus and Rogers shipped call centre jobs overseas (to India and the Phillipines)?

This company is 60%(?) owned by an Egyptian firm. How do you know they will have 100% of their workforce Canadian? The Egyptian firm is not only providing money.

 

[adeel]

The government still has to obey the law as written, and the courts do the interpreting.

I take issue with the fact that the employees union would force such an action. If Telus/Bell/Rogers did that I would not like it but I would understand it.

 

[kEiThZ]

The government still has to obey the law as written, and the courts do the interpreting.

The government did obey the law. None of the big 3 or the CRTC disagreed with the fact that Wind was Candian owned. They disputed the fact that it was Canadian controlled. And what were their grounds? That Orascom provided debt financing (without control of the board of Wind) and that Orascom was providing technical advice. Who else were they supposed to get technical advice from? Rogers?

Why shouldn't they complain? Why should Bell, Telus and Rogers have to work within one set of rules while Wind Mobile gets a special set of rules? I'm sure the existing companies would love to get access to foreign capital.

There's nothing stopping them. Remember when AT&T had a one third stake in Cantel? Orascom's stake in Wind Mobile Canada is less than that.

Orascom is essentially making a massive bet on Globalive. They are providing hundreds of millions in debt financing without any control on the funds (since they don't have a significant amount of seats on the board). If the big 3 can find partners that are as generous, I see no reason why it would not be allowed in Canada.

This company is 60%(?) owned by an Egyptian firm. How do you know they will have 100% of their workforce Canadian? The Egyptian firm is not only providing money.

It is actually Globalive that is the parent company of Wind. Globalive (of Yak Communications fame) is a majority Canadian owned company with 100% of their workforce in Canada. And Globalive is the majority shareholder of Wind and has 80% of the seats on Wind's board. So how are they an Egyptian company? They are getting debt financing from abroad. The CRTC's argument is equivalent to suggesting that if a foreign bank owned my mortgage, I should not be allowed to run a Canadian company. That's a pretty high bar. We don't set it for our aerospace and defence sectors, our auto sectors, our energy sector, etc. And I really doubt that was the intention of the law...to completely lock out foreign investment.

 

[gristle]

I, for one, welcome more competition in the telecom sector. Hopefully some relief will be felt on the arrival of a new competitor. I'm more than a little tired of the royal screwing being meted out by the aptly named "big three."

"Big three." That's so GM/Ford?Chrysler. Look what happened to them upon the arrival of some savvy competition.

 

[waterloowarrior]

I'm surprised the CRTC rejected this since it approved the Canwest/Goldman Sachs takeover of Alliance Atlantis, which was mostly funded by the American company, and Goldman Sachs controlled majority of non-voting shares, but CanWest controlled majority of voting shares...

 

[kEiThZ]

I am sick of the hypocrisy of the big 3. I have no issues with paying the highest mobile rates in the developed world and taking their crappy service if it was actually preserving jobs in Canada. But it's not.

So it makes it really disgusting and egregious when the big 3 lay off thousand, then hire cheap Asian labour or used right-to-work southern states to staff their call centres, yet wrap themselves in the flag. If you want to wrap yourself in the flag, you better deliver. Otherwise, let the competition in.

I can't believe Canadians accept a service where we pay nearly 3.5 times the average of the developed world, as per this CBC report:

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/player.html?clipid=1356764154

 

[kEiThZ]

I'm surprised the CRTC rejected this since it approved the Canwest/Goldman Sachs takeover of Alliance Atlantis, which was mostly funded by the American company, and Goldman Sachs controlled majority of non-voting shares, but CanWest controlled majority of voting shares...

These last couple of big decisions by the CRTC have seriously shaken my faith in it. They allowed an American company to takeover a Canadian media producer yet don't allow a Canadian company using some foreign capital from launching a cellphone network.

I used to accept that the CRTC had an important role in defending Canadian culture. But I am seriously starting to wonder if they are simply a rubber stamp for the big corporations. How the hell did they let Rogers become so big? At this point the CRTC isn't even protecting our culture anymore. They are just defending the existing oligopoly. Serious reforms are needed here.

 

[Brandon716]

The unions need to tend to their home companies and negotiate fair deals for their workers instead of trying to keep competition from coming in... Bad move IMO.

 

[Brandon716]

http://www.cbc.ca/video/news/player.html?clipid=1356764154

Doesn't surprise me to find out that the US has even higher rates, the rates for cell phone services here are astronomical, but I'm lucky to be part of a huge corporate discount program and my bills are usually kept down to around $70-80 a month, maybe more if I roam some in Canada.

Without the discount it'd be $100-125 a month, for 450 day time minutes and unlimited texting/weekends and nights starting at 7pm.

 

[kEiThZ]

The unions need to tend to their home companies and negotiate fair deals for their workers instead of trying to keep competition from coming in... Bad move IMO.

Well, Wind has launched. Some of those union members will find themselves on the street in short order. The Big 3 is simply going to respond by slashing their jobs and shipping them overseas, all the while carping about being Canadian. Too bad for them. Had the union been smart they would have recognized the value of competition creating productivity and more jobs in the telecom sector. Rogers layoffs 900 before Christmas. Wind just hired 800. Heck, Wind even kept paying its employees for the last 6 weeks to do volunteer work while they waited for approval to launch.

Even now the Big 3 haven't really dropped prices. If you call your provider, they just say "Wind will be out of business in a year so why should we match their deal." They are comparing their "cheaper phones" to Wind's phone prices. Except Wind has no contracts. And they may not be cheaper either. Rogers is charging 500 bucks for a BB Bold 9700 on a 2 year contract while Wind charges 450 with no contract. The Big 3 are still trying to force people into 3 year contracts before Wind grows and Canadians catch on.

 

[kEiThZ]

Without the discount it'd be $100-125 a month, for 450 day time minutes and unlimited texting/weekends and nights starting at 7pm.

You think that's bad? In Canada you pay that much and get no real unlimited anything. There are caps on data, number of texts and minutes. The carrier can change the rate on any pay per use item anytime and you have no recourse. Oh yeah, don't forget the calling zones are tiny (Oakvilled is long distance on Rogers in Toronto) and long distance is expensive.

Wind has started off by charging $45 for unlimited calling, any time of day with all the features in and $35 for unlimited data. That's incredible compared to anything the Big 3 offers right now.