Shaw Communications Inc. (T.SJR.B) has announced that it is laying off 10% of its workforce due to the consequences from the coronavirus pandemic.
The Calgary-based telecommunications company said the cuts, which will begin this week, are taking place in its retail and sales departments.
"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," said Shaw president Paul McAleese in a news release.
"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."
In its news release, Shaw said it is not eligible for the emergency aid programs that have been rolled out by the federal government and plans to tap its own funds to top-up employment insurance for the affected employees. It said benefits will also be extended to those employees.
According to Shaw’s most recent annual report, it has approximately 10,000 employees, meaning that about 1,000 employees will be affected by the layoffs.
There have been other signs of the pandemic's impact on Canada's telecommunications companies. Last week, Bell said 6,000 of its workers have either seen their work significantly reduced or put on hold. Bell indicated at the time that as many as 800 of its employees were likely to be laid off.
