BT union rejects new pay offer

BT’s biggest union yesterday said until any real progress is made on improving a pay offer, it will press ahead with plans to hold a strike ballot.

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by Victoria Bischoff on Jun 09, 2010 at 08:41

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BT’s biggest union yesterday rejected the telecoms company’s revised pay offer, announcing it will press ahead with plans to hold a strike ballot.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) claimed the improved pay offer is ‘materially unchanged’ for this year, and said that until any real progress is made it will continue with plans to ballot members over industrial action.

BT made an improved offer to CWU yesterday, replacing its one year offer of a 2% pay rise with a two year deal offering 2% in the first year, followed by 3%.

The telecoms giant also pledged to avoid compulsory redundancies up until the end of 2011, and said staff would be in line for an annual bonus of £250 each year.

Last week BT published its annual report showing Ian Livingstone, the BT chief executive, was paid a bonus of £1.2 million last year.

Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary, said: ‘As we’ve made clear, 2% is unacceptable for our members as it does not reflect the reward they expect given the contribution they have made to cost savings of £1.75 billion and profits of over £1bn’.

‘In addition, inflation is at 5.3% and staff are comparing this offer with the large salary rises and bonuses for senior executives which expose the blatant double standards being adopted by the company when it comes to remuneration’.

Kerr added that BT’s decision to leak their offer to the media yesterday had also raised trust issues.

A spokesperson for BT said: 'Our revised offer contains many new elements that would benefit their members and so we are disappointed by their initial response. Not only have we tabled an improved offer for 2010 and a new one for 2011, we have also offered new guarantees on job security and were prepared to go the extra mile to try and settle this'.

Last week hundreds of CWU members voted in favour of holding a strike ballot, following BT’s offer to increase pay by 2% this year after a pay freeze last year.

The CWU wants an increase of at least 5%, and claims this would only account for a fraction of BT's recorded profit.

If a strike were to go ahead it would be the first national strike in BT since 1987.

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2 comments so far. Why not have your say?

Here we go again, unions not recognising the times and thinking that they can bulldozer their wishes.

From BT's side, the excessive payments/bonuses to the executives is a red rag to the bull, both union and shareholders.

So, borrowing from Shakespeare, now is the summer of the unions discontent.............., and attempt on their part to get better (much better) than others in the country, and maintain their stranglehold on unfair practices/manning.

I am not up to date on the practices etc, but the mere fact that there is talk of redundancies means that a thinning of the ranks is required and that the union is blocking streamlining and competitive pay structures. Most in the private sector are suffering pay cuts and redundancies, which the union does not want because it affects the funds they receive and will affect the pay and perks of the top echelons of the unions

What is required is a 'Willie' for BT.

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Anonymous 1 needed this 'off the record'

Jun 17, 2010 at 17:52

It happens all the time directors etc of large companies get large pay rises and on top of that huge boneses, so you can only expect the unions to want a decent wage rise for their members, good on you CWU I hope you strike and get what you want.

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