Should Not the Radical Left Take into Account the Attitude of Workers Towards Their Own Jobs? Part Fifteen, The Case of Telus Workers

Introduction

One of the few things that I agree with the academic leftist Jeff Noonan, professor of philosophy at the University of Windsor, Ontario, is that leftists must start where workers are at:

Political engagement begins from trying to understand where people are coming from.

But where people are coming from can be interpreted in at least two ways: objectively–what their real situaiton is, and subjectively, what their attitudes towards their interpreted situations are. In relation to workers, there is their objective situation of being treated as means towards ends defined by employers (see The Money Circuit of Capital).

Subjectively, though, there are undoubtedly a variety of attitudes and interpretations of their own work and life situations.

Some among the radical left do not even address the issue of what workers think of their own jobs. It is hardly idealist to inquire into such attitudes.

I will start to gather evidence about the attitudes of some workers in unionized (and non-unionized) settings where I have calculated the rate of exploitation of those workers. I will also in the not-too-distant future start a similar inquiry process  for unionized public-sector workers with the largest employers in Canada and in various Canadian cities.

Objective Exploitation and Oppression of Telus Workers

In a previous post, I calculated the rate of exploitation of Telus workers for 2019 (see  The Rate of Exploitation of Telus Workers , One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia). I will copy part of the conclusion from that post:

The rate of exploitation or the rate of surplus value=s/v=2485.3/4258.7=58%.

That means that for every hour worked that produces her/his wage, a worker at Telus works around an additional 35 minutes for free for Telus. Alternatively, in terms of money, a regular Telus worker who receives $1 of wage or salary produces $0.58 surplus value or profit for free.

Assuming either a 7.5 hour working day  or an 8 hour working day:

1. In a 7.5- hour working day (450 minutes), a Telus worker produces her/his wage in about 285 minutes (4 hours 45 minutes) and works 165 minutes ( 2 hours 45 minutes) for free for Telus.
2. In an 8-hour working day (480 minutes), a Telus worker produces her/his wage in about 304 minutes (5  hours 4 minutes) and works 176 minutes (2 hours 56 minutes) for free for Telus.

Of course, during the time that the worker produces her/his own wage, s/he is subject to the power of management and hence is also unfree during that time (see The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation and Employers as Dictators, Part One).

In practice, Telus workers work for more than necessary to produce the equivalent value of their wages and benefits, and their surplus labour produces Telus profits (surplus of value).

You would think that, given these circumstances, Telus workers would find their work situation mainly negative.  Indeed, there are leftists who have argued that workers explicitly experience alienation from their work. David Graeber (2018), in Bullshit Jobs A Theory, states (page 19):

The result was to reveal that men are far more likely to feel that their jobs are pointless (42 percent) than women do (32 percent).

Drawing upon data provided from another survey, he states:

… the survey makes abundantly clear that ( 1) more than half of working hours in American offices are spent on bullshit, and (2) the problem is getting worse.

In another survey, we read the following (Peter Fleming (2015), The Mythology of Work: How Capitalism Persists Despite Itself, page 3):

A recent survey … reveals that only about 13 per cent of the global workforce considered themselves ‘engaged’ by their jobs. The remaining 87 per cent feel deeply alienated.

Subjective Attitudes of Telus Workers Towards Telus and Their Working Situation

The data provided below, however, does not substantiate such views.

To obtain such data, I provided a review of my last employer–Lakeshore School Division–for the website Indeed in order to gain access to company reviews.

There were  2,381 for Canada at the time that I started this post (this does not refer to Telus International).

Of course, the numbers above will have changed in a relatively short period of time.

In similar posts, I provided a more detailed quantitative breakdown of the reviews (see for example Should Not the Radical Left Take into Account the Attitude of Workers Towards Their Own Jobs? Part One, The Case of Magna International Workers),but such detail requires much more time. Unless there is a political reason for engaging in such detailed work, I will only provide the total quantitative data.

The ratings are from 5 to 1, with 5 being the most positive evaluation and 1 the worst.

Distribution of the Evaluations to the Various Ratings: Quantitative Data

#5 829

#4 770

#3 377

#2 160

#1 245

I will consider #5 and #4 ratings to be positive evaluations of their work experiences with Telus. I split the #3 into two since some ratings with a #3 rating are positive evaluations while others are negative. I will consider #2 and #1 ratings to be negative evaluations.

I justify the categorisation of #5 and #4 as positive because, in addition to being quantitatively higher than #3–a nominal middle evaluation–comments made by some workers that correspond to the quantitative evaluation seem to indicate a positive evaluation. Further on, I give a couple of arbitrary examples drawn from each numbered evaluation.

Positive attitude towards working for Telus

829+770+188=1787
1787/2381×100=75%

Negative attitude towards working for Telus

189+160+245=594
594/2381×100=25%

To get a flavour for the ratings, I include immediately below a couple of comments from each rating. They are not meant to be representative since I chose them to reflect the above characterizations of the evaluations.

A Few Comments from Each Evaluative Category: Qualitative Data

1. Great company Journeyman Outside Plant (Install and Repair) Technician (Former Employee) – Prince George, BC – 5 October 2023 My time as a tech was fun and I learned a bunch of skills along the way. The shift to Fiber made it much more interesting. You get to manage your own time and help people on a daily basis. Pros Good pay Cons Sometimes customers can be annoying
2. Very good position management was always available and willing to back you up. Client Service Representative / customer care representative (Former Employee) – Calgary, AB – 15 May 2022 Customer service rep was a great position I lasted over 30 YEARS !! The management team was very assessable and always willing to lending a hand. Errors were looked at as learning not as a bad thing.

#4

1. Productive workplace Sales Associate (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 4 April 2018 Assisted clients with cell phone helped them find the right phone for their needs and service plan selection. Diagnosed device repair requirements and referred for service where necessary. Productive workplace Fast paced Learned a lot about wireless communications new devices and operating systems. Worked as a team with professional people. Pros Telus provides excellent training and comfortable work environment. Job security Cons too many sales targets
2. Un bel équilibre Travail-vie-famille Infirmier (Current Employee) – Montréal, QC – 20 March 2023 Je suis chez Telus Santé depuis 10 mois dans un environnement de travail agréable et une équipe formidable. J’étais dans le réseau publique avant. Maintenant j’ai un employeur qui nous traite comme des humains et qui tiens à notre bien-être. Un respect incontestable est présent entre professionnels, cadre et employé administratif. Tout le monde forme une équipe interdépendante. Des horaires du lundi au vendredi de jour Pros Excellents avantages sociaux Cons 30 minutes de lunch seulement et trois semaines de vacances seulement Translation:

   ---

   A great work-life balance Nurse (Current Employee) – Montreal, QC – March 20, 2023 I have been with Telus Health for 10 months in a pleasant work environment and with a fantastic team. I was in the public sector before. Now I have an employer who treats us like humans and cares about our well-being. There is undeniable respect between professionals, management, and administrative staff. Everyone forms an interdependent team. Working hours are Monday to Friday during the day. Pros Excellent benefits Cons Only 30 minutes for lunch and only three weeks of vacation.

#3

1. Benefits
   Client Care Representative (Former Employee) – Bc Canada – 27 July 2024
   Good benefits.
   Helpful co-workers.
   Work flexibility
   It used to be enjoyable until the past couple of years. It became too stressful to handle the demands of management.
2. Great Work environment
   Sales Manager (Former Employee) – Vancouver – 7 July 2024
   Really enjoyed my time here. The staff were a pleasure. Work life balance was good. I enjoyed the perk of a free phone plan. Staff engagement was good.

#2

1. Torture
   Pension and Benefits Call Centre Agent (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 1 August 2024
   In the Pensions and Benefits division.They will call you a Specialist to make you feel good but you will most certainly not be provided the opportunity to be special at anything….equipment ..chromebook for many, training very minimal and can come in the form of a surprise invitation to listen to a recording of a senior agent reading script at speed in a whiney voice after which you will be slammed on the call lines. There are a lot of lovely agents that keep your chin up and we existed on this kind of moral support to get us through the dehumanizing experience. I wish I could rescue every poor soul from the place and when my own kid asked me to refer him..I said a hard “NO!!!…. “just because my conversations with clients sound nice dies not reflect what I am experiencing on yge line, thuis company feeds you to the wolves”
   Escalating issues are almost never handled by a manager and agents are dealing with conversations well above their pay grade. Really disgusting to be honest!
   Pros
   You can work from home and scream into a pillow
   Cons
   Outsourcing of monitoring and scheduling to a far off land equals train wreck
2. Not what they portray
   Account Manager (Former Employee) – Toronto, ON – 8 July 2024
   Good benefits
   constantly moving sales targets changed compensation plan twice
   hired to work remote then forced to commute downtown. Would not allow us to work at Scarborough location. No additional compensation for the commute. Would not have accepted the position to work downtown based on the salary

#1

1. It used to be great
   Customer Service Representative (Former Employee) – Montréal, QC – 31 July 2024
   Pros: AMAZING coworkers, made several friends for life while working there, pay and benefits were good
   Cons: High stress environment, extra work with no increase in pay, constant changes in management and no feeling of job security, a lot of micromanagement
2. You’re not a person, you’re a number
   Help Desk (Current Employee) – Scarborough, ON – 25 July 2024
   Upper management cares about $ and not the employees OR the actual customer, we are often forced to offer products/services that the client does not need. If you don’t offer you will be reprimanded.
   Pros
   None (anymore)
   Cons
   Lack of care for employees/clients

Political Relevance

Such analysis forms only a preliminary tool for socialists interested in relating to workers working for this particular employer. It is crude quantitative and should be supplemented by a qualitative analysis of comments–a much more labour-intensive task.

Unlike Jane McAlevey’s approach, which focuses on organic leaders–leaders who form a key focus since winning their allegiance leads to other workers (or community members) being convinced to join a union or community campaign (see my review in the Links section)–the issue here is to see which workers are the most disgruntled and the least disgruntled in relation to a particular employer.

It may be thought that the more disgruntled workers would then be the focus of socialists’ efforts. That may well be, but the issue is of course more complicated than that. For example, for socialists the issue is not just being disgruntled against a particular employer but generalizing this to all employers. It would be necessary for socialists to use their judgement in determining how susceptible disgruntled workers are to such generalization. In some cases, less disgruntled workers may well be more susceptible to generalizing than more disgruntled workers. Initially, though, it does give socialists a preliminary method of approaching workers, at least in a general way. Of course, no specific workers can be identified through such an approach. That would be the responsibility of socialists engaging with specific workers or community members.