The union representing SaskTel employees in Moose Jaw has announced they were hit with layoffs to start the week.

Unifor says 21 workers were given notice Monday afternoon, accusing the province of attempting to close the Moose Jaw office in favour of the Regina location.

"17 at the (call centre) or Internet Help Desk will be offered the same job in Regina, so it's a centralizaton in our view..taking those jobs out of our community," said President of Unifor Local 3, Bill Lawson, who added the others are being offered different jobs within SaskTel. 

In a news release, Unifor said Premier Brad Wall is "meddling" in their affairs by closing the office and moving the work to Regina.

"All these folks work in a queued environment, which raises our concern," Lawson added. "These jobs could be done in any location..that's why they were here, so the crown corporations could provide good jobs (in Moose Jaw)."

Lawson the transfer of employees raises another concern - what if they don't want to work in Regina?

"We would have to look at the collective agreement closely and look at options," said Lawson. "They're (the workers) very upset about this. This was basically dropped on them without any notice."

A meeting with Unifor members is being held Tuesday night at 7 to go over the announcement.