Shaw Communications Announces Temporary Changes in Response to COVID-19 Pandemic
April 14 2020 - 4:30PM
Shaw Communications Inc. today announced that the extraordinary and
unpredictable conditions created by the COVID-19 pandemic have
resulted in the difficult decision to temporarily lay off
approximately 10 per cent of its workforce, largely working in
retail and sales roles across the company.
“Government leaders across the country have taken significant
and necessary steps to ensure the health and safety of Canadians
and to limit the spread of the virus. These measures have resulted
in dramatic shortages or stoppages of work in specific areas of our
business where we have had to make the hard decisions being
announced today,” said Paul McAleese, President, Shaw. “We value
the hard work and expertise of all our employees in helping deliver
connectivity to our customers across the country. Unfortunately,
these changes are necessary until our business activities resume to
more normal levels.
“With our gratitude, we will be providing financial support to
affected employees beyond applicable government programs, and we
look forward to welcoming them back when business conditions
improve,” Mr. McAleese said.
Assistance and support for employeesAt this
time, Shaw is ineligible for any emergency government assistance
programs and will use its own funds to top up government Employment
Insurance payments at various levels, depending on employee
earnings, and continue to extend benefits and pension contributions
for eligible non-unionized employees during the temporary layoff
period.
The temporary layoffs will begin April 16, 2020.
Keeping Canadians connected“These are
challenging times, but everyone at Shaw and Freedom Mobile is well
aware that millions of Canadians and their families depend on us to
keep them connected. We take this job very seriously,” Mr. McAleese
said. “With the world navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic,
it’s never been clearer how important it is for people to be
connected to stay in touch with friends, families and loved
ones.
“We continue to see increased usage of our network and our
customers continue to enjoy strong connectivity through our
wireless and broadband services,” Mr. McAleese said. “Our network
upgrades over the past few years have put us in a solid position to
handle increased traffic.
“We remain committed to supporting our customers with the
products and services they need through digital, self-serve and
self-install options to ensure they remain connected,” Mr. McAleese
said.
Canadians can order Freedom Mobile services from select dealer
locations and national retail partners found at
locations.freedommobile.ca. Customers are encouraged to call ahead
to ensure a location is open before visiting. Payments can be
processed through online banking, auto pay arrangements made
through the Freedom Mobile call centre, myaccount.freedommobile.ca,
or the Freedom Mobile My Account app.
New or existing customers who want to order new or additional
Shaw internet, home phone and video services can do so easily
through shaw.ca/bundles/plans and benefit from our self-install
options and in-home delivery of the required equipment. Customers
can also make payments on their accounts via their My Shaw app or
through my.shaw.ca/.
Supporting our communitiesSince the early days
of the pandemic, Shaw, Shaw Business and Freedom Mobile have
announced several programs and assistance designed to support
customers, families and communities across Canada. Details can be
found at shaw.ca/shaw-helps and business.shaw.ca/.
About ShawShaw Communications Inc. is a leading
Canadian connectivity company. The Wireline division consists of
Consumer and Business services. Consumer serves residential
customers with broadband Internet, Shaw Go WiFi, video and digital
phone. Business provides business customers with Internet, data,
WiFi, digital phone and video services. The Wireless division
provides wireless voice and LTE data services through an expanding
and improving mobile wireless network
infrastructure.
Shaw is traded on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges and
is included in the S&P/TSX 60 Index (Symbol: TSX - SJR.B,
SJR.PR.A, SJR.PR.B, NYSE – SJR, and TSXV – SJR.A). For more
information, please visit www.shaw.ca
For media inquiries, please contact: Shaw
Communications Inc. Chethan Lakshman, VP, External Affairs(403)
930-8448chethan.lakshman@sjrb.ca
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