Hundreds of Telco employees left in the cold before Christmas

Hundreds of workers at Telco were locked out of their Vancouver office Thursday morning, with no explanation why.

Workers at the offices on Yukon Street showed up for their shifts beginning at 5:30 a.m., only to find their employee passes no longer worked and the doors were locked.

Telco Management Inc. labels themselves as a leader in the telemarketing industry, and has been operating in Vancouver for several decades. As of yesterday, they had about 200 employees.

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“There’s no explanation as to what’s going on or where we stand. We don’t know where we stand,” said one worker.

“Tell me I’m fired, just don’t have me show up and not be worked,” Kathy Hughes, a 23-year-long employee, said.

There were rumours swirling before Thursday that a new office might be opening, but not everyone at the company was given that information.

A source told Global News some of the highest earning Telco employees are still with the company, but they will now work out of another office in Surrey under a company called Crow Computer. That hasn’t been confirmed and no one from Telco is speaking on the matter.

“I feel for people with families, and there are quite a few. And I feel for older people who have drug bills and things like that, and maybe in the new year they’re not going to be able to afford their medication,” Hughes said.

“We’re all in shock, and just before Christmas too,” another employee said.

The Yukon Street building where Telco was located sold on Dec. 8 for $21 million, but some employees say they were told the company’s lease had been renewed for another five years.

Global News reached out to Telco for comment but did not hear back.

–With files from Jill Bennett