Close the Gap round-up

Telecoms & Financial Services November 10 2017

As the first week of our Close the Gap campaign tour of the UK draws to a close, deputy general secretary Andy Kerr has congratulated  branches for all their efforts.

Andy stated: “I’d like to personally thank branches across the country who’ve pulled out all the stops to raise the profile of our Close the Gap campaign which formally launched this week.”

Activities have taken place in Doncaster, Dundee, Blackburn, Truro, Belfast and Glasgow where members have shown real verve and support for the campaign by taking part in vox pops and signing our petition.  As well as membership support, branches have garnered support from local politicians and the local press as well as some high profile MPs, providing much needed publicity for the union’s campaign to expose the second class treatment of around 2,000 Manpower employees working on the BT account.

The strength of feeling about the large discrepancy between the pay rates enjoyed by directly employed BT staff and longer-serving agency workers on ‘equal pay’ contracts – compared to those on PBA contracts – has already prompted large numbers of employees on all contract types to sign the CWU petition calling on BT and Manpower to ‘Close the Gap’ – and with two weeks of the campaign tour still to run the CWU is convinced that an unmistakable message is already being delivered to both companies that ‘enough is enough’.
The petition will be delivered to both Manpower and BT  highlighting to both companies the fact that CWU patience has well and truly expired with regards to years of inaction and buck-passing on a blatant and keenly-felt injustice.
Andy concludes: “This activity has revitalised our branches, and shows that when we need to, our branches can really put on a good show to fight injustices in the workplace.  Our Manpower members deserve equal pay and at the very least the real living wage – we will continue to fight for this across all fronts.  Keep up the good work!”
Manpower members who feel strongly on the issue are being urged to contact the union on agencycampaign@cwu.org – and all CWU members are encouraged to sign the petition that is doing the rounds, or print off a copy at www-cwu-org.www.cwu.org/campaign/close-the-gap/ and collect signatures themselves.
  • A full round-up of the Close the Gap tour will appear in the next issue of The Voice