BT staff have voted in their first national strike in 35 years, which is expected to affect customers across the country who have broadband services installed or troubleshooting.
The strike by BT engineers and call center staff represents the vast majority of the 58,000 frontline staff and the union organizing the vote said BT customers could expect disruption to services including repairs, installation of new telephone and internet lines or receiving support staff.
The UK’s biggest telecoms company is in a dispute with the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which represents around 40,000 of the company’s 100,000 staff, over pay as the cost of living rises.
“This is an incredible result which has been achieved despite a real culture of fear imposed by BT’s senior management,” said Dave Ward, general secretary of the CWU, who said the result represented the first UK call center strike in British history.
“This proves beyond any doubt that no worker in the UK is out of reach, that all workers are ready to stand up and fight for higher pay and, in some cases, better conditions.”
The ballot by staff at BT subsidiary Openreach, which maintains the UK’s internet infrastructure, saw a 75% turnout among 28,425 members, with 95.8% voting in favor of strike action.
Among CWU members employed by BT, including more than 10,000 call center workers, turnout was 58.2%, with 91.5% voting in favour.
However, the vote by members of EE, the mobile operator acquired by BT in 2015, failed to achieve the 50% turnout required for the vote to be valid. The CWU said the 2,000 members who voted were just 8 short of the required number, with 95.8% in favor of strike action.
Ward issued an ultimatum to BT bosses, giving the company until the end of next week to return to the negotiating table with a “significantly improved offer” or face strike action notice. The earliest notice can be given is 14 days after service of the notice on BT.
“It could have a very significant impact [if a strike goes ahead], you can’t downplay the importance,” Ward said. “These are the workers who jointly oversee the maintenance and deployment of the UK’s broadband infrastructure. There are also key contracts with government agencies, security agencies – they manage those contracts. It will make an impact. The goal is to reach a fair settlement with the company.”
A spokesman for Openreach, which employs more than 35,000 staff, mostly engineers, said the company had contingency plans in place if the strike continued.
“We have tried and tested processes for large employee absences to minimize any disruption to our customers,” he said. “We have proven this during the pandemic and as a precaution we are prepared to do the same again if strike action begins.” We will do our best to keep our customers connected.
In April, BT gave 58,000 staff a £1,500 pay rise, in what it said was its biggest pay-out in two decades. The CWU, which has been pushing for a 10 per cent rise in BT as inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1 per cent last month, called the proposal “insulting” and a “relative pay cut”.
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BT chief executive Philip Jansen, who received a 32% pay rise last year to £3.5m due to bonuses and share awards, said the company could not afford to sweeten its contract with staff. BT made almost £2 billion in profits for the year to the end of March, with shareholders receiving £700 million in dividends.
Ward also accused BT and other telcos of profiteering by raising prices for consumers by up to 10% earlier this year at a time when inflation was around 5% – it has since risen to 9.1%.
“Our job is to balance the competing demands of BT Group shareholders and this requires careful management, particularly in a challenging economic environment,” a BT spokesman said. “The result of the CWU vote is a disappointment.”
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