Rod Hiebert Interview: Leadership and Advocacy in the TWU
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.
This interview was conducted by Johanna den Hertog on November 27, 2018 in Burnaby, BC. It is part of our Oral History Collection.
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.