A call centre in Windsor is shutting down.
Telecommunications Workers Union-United Steelworkers Union Local 1944 National President Lee Riggs says the Freedom Mobile call centre on Windsor Avenue is closing.
He says the company is moving its operation to Victoria, B.C., putting 130 workers out of a work.
Riggs says the workers found out after the lunch hour on Monday.
"As you can imagine they are completely caught off guard here," says Riggs. "This is a very hard working group of employees. We got quite a few members that have been working for this company for quite a number of years for Shaw and Freedom Mobile and they're extremely extremely upset."
Photo courtesy of Freedom Mobile's website
Riggs adds the company has scheduled three waves of layoffs over the next few weeks beginning this Wednesday.
"We find this to be just completely outrageous," says Riggs. "They are telling people here just after lunch today that they're going to be laid off and they're going to be gone on Wednesday and we just find that unbelievable."
The other layoff dates are set for February 21 & March 28.
The union says the company and Shaw Communications took an antagonistic stance in organizing efforts but employees voted in favour of joining the union last year and narrowly approved a first collective agreement in September.
The union says Shaw's top five senior executives made nearly 37-million dollars in 2016 while call centre workers make $13.68 an hour on average.
- with files from AM800's Kathie McMann