RE: ContractI agree with most of your opinions...but you did point out that your's was from a management prospective, so I wish to add mine.
1. You have not factored Telus Business customers into your equation. Telus is currently focussing all its resource to serving business needs due to the fact that most contracts contain service level agreements which result in rebates if those levels are not meet. Yes they apply in this case because it is a lockout. I am sure that the Telus legal team will say otherwise, but even the offical letter from Telus to the TWU says "Lockout". It will take just one major customer pulling the plug on telus to get that ball rolling.
2. Telus has ambitious Telus TV plans, which will now go down the crapper. Won't happen, will not meet their target of +50K customers.
3. Not sure that I totally agree with the TWU having to save face...I would respectifully suggest that Saving Face is more of a telus problem than a union issue. We all know where the TWU stands on issues, we have no idea what telus stands for although "greed" has been suggested. Right now Telus is facing a monster of bad public relations of their own making. They have blocked access to a pro union website and have created an awareness of that site that has tripled its success. As well as another ISP the Prince Rupert Telephone company who gets its feed from TELUS is complaining that its customers cannot access the site. This will be a public relations nightmare for Telus and some senior manager who made that decision will probably be given his/her little brown box and asked to leave the building.
4. This is going to get ugly fast because Telus is bringing in replacement workers, no matter what they say in the press. I watched a group of replacement workers arriving the building I worked in. Not retired managers etc, but replacement workers. It is not nice when things get ugly, but historically, ugly gets results.
5. Posionous atmoshpere, you bet...I will never look at the management group in my unit in the same light again. The more I think about them, some of them are enjoying this, I think I must just go and picket them at home, I am sure the neighours will be impressed. If they show their face on the street, I intend to follow them and picket the establishment where they go. This may not accomplish anything, but boy, it sure makes mee feel better.
6. Investors don't care about the issues, they just want results and that's it. No results then they dump the stock.
7. The TWU cannot and must not rely on the courts and legal system to help them. Even when Telus is found guilty of something, the CIRB does not impose any penalties. If I didn,t know better, I would think that the labour boards are morally corrupt, take forever to make descions, they must be getting paid by the hour, just like a union worker.
Well, thats it for now...hope you all loaded up on this stock...I made more on Telus in the last 4 days than I would in working for 3 months...
Cheers