You only have yourselves to blame, CWU tells BT, as more strikes get underway

Telecoms & Financial Services, BT, Openreach October 6 2022

 

Over 40,000 BT and Openreach workers are once again downing tools en-masse in disgust at the steadfast refusal of BT Group bosses to address their anger over real-term pay cuts  that have triggered the first national strike action in the telecoms giant in 35 years.

Despite repeated CWU appeals to senior management to return to the negotiating table to achieve a fair and just settlement of an increasingly bitter pay dispute that has already seen four days of industrial action,  bosses have failed to show any interest whatsoever in resolving the industrial relations conflagration.

As such, today’s all-out strike is the first of a further four days of industrial action that will also see the CWU’s entire BT and Openreach membership withdraw their labour on Monday October 10, Thursday  October 20  and Monday October 24.

For the first time the strike is joined  by more than 500 emergency services call handlers based at  999 call centres across the country.

Previously, those fielding 999 calls have been exempted from the CWU’s strike action on account of the essential public service they provide, with the union agreeing to a ‘life and limb’ agreement with management, scrupulously adhered to by the union up to now, that emergency support, including the 999 service, would be provided to cover hospital and national security-critical communications infrastructure.

But amid widespread employee outrage at the company’s continuing refusal to enter into meaningful negotiations with the CWU, these workers have now joined their company colleagues on 200-plus picket lines the length and breadth of the county.

“This decision was not taken lightly, but our union’s repeated attempts to initiate discussions was declined by a management who clearly believe they are above negotiating a fair deal for people who make massive profits for them,” stresses CWU general secretary Dave Ward.

“999 operators are using foodbanks; they’re worried about the cost of living and are being stretched to the limit. Goodwill won’t pay the bills, and vital services are now being hampered because of corporate greed.

“BT management clearly has no appreciation of its workforce or their social value – but this union does, and we’ll keep on fighting this company’s attempt to plunge its workers into even further hardship.”

Management contempt…

At the heart of the dispute is BT’s unilateral imposition of an insulting flat rate pay-rise of just £1,500 this spring – following no consolidated increase at all last year – and management’s steadfast refusal to reconsider its position, despite spiralling inflation and an ever-deepening cost of living crisis.

Workforce fury has been compounded by blatant company misrepresentations about the percentage value of the imposed pay settlement and patently untrue public pronouncements about ‘protracted pay discussions’ with the union that simply never happened!

But arguably the biggest single contributor to CWU members’ disgust  at  BT Group has been the rank hypocrisy of management pronouncements that the company ‘simply can’t afford’ to pay employees a cost of living pay rise when it’s a matter of public record that senior executives are pocketing massive rises themselves.

On the back of annual profits of £1.3 billion and payouts of £761million in shareholder dividends, BT CEO Philip Jansen has seen a 32% rise in his overall remuneration package this year (up from £2,628,000 in 2021 to £3,460,000 in 2022), while the company’s financial officer Simon Lowth has seen his overall package increase by 25%.

CWU president Karen Rose, who is also chair of the union’s Telecoms & Financial Services Executive, told CWU News: “The message that I’ve consistently been getting from members on the picket lines is that they’re really fed up – and enough is enough!

“We know a  lot of our 999 operators , some of the lowest paid workers in the company, went into work reluctantly during the previous strikes because they wanted to support themselves and their colleagues – but, having done that, they now feel taken for granted.

“The way the company has rewarded them for the seriousness with which they conduct their role is to not even bother to talk to the CWU!

“They’re treating all of our members, but particularly those in 999, so disrespectfully that we simply have to draw the line.”

Deputy general secretary Andy Kerr concludes: “Time and time again, we’ve asked for negotiations, only to be ignored by a senior management that could not be less interested in addressing the anger that exists in their workplaces.

“They need to wake up to the fact that BT Group workers are determined and united – and certainly won’t be giving up the fight to get the proper pay rise they deserve.”