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“This is going to have a devastating effect on the Windsor-Essex area, 130 jobs coming out of that area,” Riggs said.

Shaw said it is moving the call centre to Victoria, B.C. which Riggs said would be more expensive and makes no sense economically.

Photo by Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Riggs said Shaw which owns Freedom Mobile took an antagonistic stance against unionization in late 2016 and early 2017 and at one point threatened to lock the workers out. The start of the layoffs come at the one-year anniversary of the workers voting to unionize, Riggs said. Employees narrowly voted to ratify their first collective agreement Sept. 20.

The average wage was $13.68 which got bumped up with the recent minimum wage hike.

An employee who didn’t want to be identified for fear she would be laid off immediately said workers were in tears and in shock Monday.

By Sharon Hill, Windsor Star

shill@postmedia.com

twitter.com/winstarhill