Rod Hiebert
Interviewed by Johanna den Hertog
Rod Hiebert became President of the Telecommunications Workers Union (TWU) in 1991. During his time as a union leader he was present for many pivotal issues affecting members, including pension funds, technological change and pay equity. He discusses the union’s decision to intervene with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) when BC Telephone Company applied for a rate increase. The TWU employed many creative strategies including the ‘un-strike’, a ‘super service campaign’ and ‘bulletin board warfare’. He describes the five-day occupation of telephone company offices in 1981.
Keywords: Telecommunications Workers Union, TWU, Federation of Telephone Workers, Bill Clark, pensions, BC Telephone Company, Telus, Concert Properties, technological change, women workers, pay equity, CRTC, deregulation, occupations, un-strike, Glen Clark, political action, Steelworkers