Layoff News: Telecommunication giant Bell has sacked 400 employees in brief virtual group meetings, said the union representing the employees Unifor. Describing the action as "beyond shameful," the largest private sector union in Canada strongly criticized the move.

The terminated employees were labelled as "surplus" during brief 10-minute video calls. The union expressed outrage, stating that the employees were handed layoff notices without any opportunity to ask questions.

Unifor's Quebec director lamented, "Our members, who have dedicated years to this telecommunications and media behemoth, are now being handed pink slips." 

However, the company dismissed this claim, asserting that it had maintained transparency with union leadership for over five weeks regarding the layoff procedures and had fulfilled its obligations.

Bell stated that the terminated employees were also offered individual HR meetings to discuss severance packages.

Earlier in February, Bell had announced to eliminate 4,800 positions, nearly 9 per cent of its workforce. CEO Mirko Bibic had called the cuts necessary to “simplify our organization and accelerate our transformation” on an earnings call.