British Telecom

LONDON REGION AND BEYOND BT PAY MEETINGS

MONDAY 14th JUNE

Ilford – Ilford Catholic Club – 7.00pm
324 High Road, Ilford, IG1 1QP

London – Conway Hall – 6.30pm
25 Red Lion Square, Holborn, London, WC1R 4RL

Reading – Reading PO Sports & Social Club - 7.30pm
Reading, Berkshire, RG1 8EQ

TUESDAY 15TH JUNE

Croydon- 7.30pm Croydon Conference Centre
Follys End, 5-9 Surrey Street, Croydon, CR0 1RG – 020 8680 1001

Watford – 6.45pm Watford Trade & Labour Club
27 Woodford Road, Watford, WD17 1PB

Luton – High Town Working Men’s Club – 7.30pm
25 Oxen Road, Luton, LU2 0DZ

WEDNESDAY 16th JUNE

Erith – North Heath Social Club – 7.30pm
8 Mill Road, Northumberland Heath, Erith, Kent, DA8 1NH

Kingston – Kingsmeadow Stadium – 7.30pm
Jack Goodchild Way, 422a Kingston Road, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 3PB

Brentwood - Holiday Inn  - 7.00pm
Forest Suite 2 Ground Floor, Brook Street, Brentwood, CM14 5NF

Oxford – Kidlington Football Club – 7.30pm
Yarnton Road, Kidlington, OX5 1AT

THURSDAY 17th JUNE

Colchester – Greenstead Social Club – 7.30pm
Lounge Bar, Blackthorn Avenue, Greenstead Estate, Colchester, CO4 3QD

Gatwick – Mercure London Gatwick Hotel – 6.30pm
Povey Cross Road (5 mins from City Place, just off London Road Roundabout)

Questions and Answers on BT Pay 2010

Why has the CWU rejected BT’s final offer?
The CWU’s Telecom Executive made a decision to reject the offer because it falls below the rise in the cost of living and would cut the value of your pay in real terms.  The level of the offer and the inclusion of one-off non-pensionable payments will also have a long term detrimental impact on the value of all BT pensions.  BT can afford more as a result of the efforts of CWU members in helping to deliver BT’s financial recovery.   

Why were CWU members not given the chance to vote on BT’s ‘final’ offer?
The CWU’s Telecom Executive is elected by the CWU membership to make decisions on behalf of members.  The Executive has a responsibility to provide strong leadership and often this means making a judgement about what is and is not acceptable to the majority of the membership, and what is realistically achievable.   

BT’s pay offer was conditional on it being recommended to members, and the Executive were unanimous in agreeing that it was unacceptable and that they were not able to recommend it.  The CWU Executive still hopes to come to an agreement with BT on pay, and any agreement will ultimately be voted on by the membership.

When will the industrial action ballot begin?
The Executive has not yet set a timetable for the ballot.  Once this is decided, members will be informed.

BT say 2% is the going rate elsewhere so why is it unacceptable to the CWU?
Pay settlement levels are improving and 20% of the pay awards recorded by IDS (Incomes Data Services) so far for April are 3% or above. BT have singled out other pay settlements to justify their offer, including British Gas with 1.8% and BAE with 2%.  But last year British Gas workers received 4.1% and BAE workers got 3%, when you received nothing on your basic pay.   BT have also mentioned the CWU’s settlement of 2% in Virgin Media, but Virgin Media’s award allows for increases of between 2% and 8% for service technicians, with only the higher grades getting 2%. This was despite posting a first quarter net loss of £160.4m in March 2010.

Companies settling above 3% in recent months, include:

• Dow Corning (technical) 3.5%, from 1st April 2010.  (pay freeze last year)
• Electrical Contracting JIB – 5% from 4th Jan 2010.  They also received 4.5% from 5th Jan 2009.
• Kimball Electronics – 5% from 1st April 2010, and 5% from 1st April 2009.

Can I be sacked or disciplined for going on strike?
No.  Members of the union are legally entitled to take official strike action and the law protects them from dismissal and victimisation for doing so.  The CWU would move swiftly to defend any individual victimised in any way, either through disciplinary action or dismissal, as a result of participation in lawful strike action.

Can the company simply replace BT employees with agency workers if we go on strike?
No.  BT can continue to use its existing agency workers, but it is illegal for an employment business to supply temporary workers to replace employees who are on strike.  Even if the law did not stand in the way, it is unrealistic for BT to replace its workforce during a strike given the need for thousands of skilled specialists who simply do not exist in the required numbers.

Why is the union launching an industrial action ballot on pay, when what I am really concerned about is changes to my attendance patterns?
We are launching an industrial action ballot on pay because we believe the offer does not reflect the contribution of CWU members and that an improved offer is affordable to BT. 

The CWU has entered into agreements on attendance in BT Openreach and BT Operate because not to do so would have threatened jobs and BT would have moved to implement attendance patterns that the CWU could not have influenced through negotiation. 

In Openreach, without an agreement on attendances, 13,000 jobs would have been TUPE’d out of the company, and there would have been 4,000 surplus employees leading almost certainly to compulsory redundancy.  The agreement means there has been no TUPE of members out of BT, and the union negotiated a set of attendances that was more acceptable to members than that which BT would have otherwise implemented.  These attendance patterns were ultimately accepted by members in a ballot. 

In BT Operate, the union agreed a national framework that was based on voluntary uptake of attendances.   If we had not done this, BT would have imposed attendances on members that again would have been less desirable than those negotiated by the union.

In BT Retail, the union has reached an agreement with the company which is subject to acceptance by members in a ballot.  The agreement means the UK workforce will be required to meet the calls currently resourced by India, which make up 80% of evening calls and 50% of weekend calls.  The union has reached this agreement because it will help protect jobs in the UK at a time of increased competition, changing customer requirements and declining call volumes.

I will lose far more through loss of pay than I will gain through an improved pay offer and it will take years to make up for that
We recognise the concerns of members about loss of pay through a strike, but if we do not take a stand against BT now, members will lose far more in the long term.  If we concede the principle of a below inflation pay deal and non-consolidated, non-pensionable target based pay awards, it will set a precedent that BT will exploit for years to come.  We must not let BT take your pragmatism for granted on issues like attendance, and we must ensure you are properly rewarded for your commitment and the sacrifices you make for the company. 

Does a fully pensionable pay award pose a risk to BT’s pension deficit?
No.  The Pensions Regulator is not expected to make any changes to BT’s current pension deficit repair payments, so a pensionable pay rise will have no impact on the repair payments BT are making on the £9bn deficit. 

How will a below inflation pay award affect my pension?
For members of the BTPS, a below inflation pay award will have a long term detrimental impact on your pension benefit and will ultimately devalue your pension relative to the cost of living. 

This is because under the new Career Average arrangements your pension is built up on a yearly basis and it is then revalued each year by the increase in inflation or the increase in salary whichever is lower.

For members in the BTRSS, the low level of the offer and the inclusion of non
pensionable payments will have a detrimental impact on the value of your pension.
This is because in general the less money that is paid into the BTRSS the lower your
pension will be.

What kind of industrial action is the union proposing to take - strike action or action short of a strike?
The union is proposing strike action.  The union would prefer a negotiated settlement to this year’s pay but BT has chosen not to reach a negotiated settlement. We believe that now they have chosen this route, the only way to convince BT to offera pay award that properly reflects CWU members’ contribution to the business is to return a big Yes vote for strike action. All the indications are that BT will not listen to anything else.

What happens if the union loses the industrial action ballot?
If the CWU loses the ballot there is every possibility that BT will implement a pay award which may fall below the 2% final offer.  The company will probably also see it as a green light to attack pay and conditions both now and into the future.

Is October salary progression included within the annual pay review?
No, the October salary progression review is completely separate from the annual pay review.   Incremental pay progression is a contractual right and reflects development within a role.  It is not designed to address increases in the cost of living, which is the primary purpose of the annual pay review.

Can BT simply implement the pay award?
There has been no indication from BT that they wish to move to implement the company’s ‘final’ pay offer.  However, any such move would be strongly resisted by the union.

What happens next and will there be further meetings with BT?
The CWU has made clear to BT that we remain willing to meet with the company to resolve the current situation, but this must be against a backdrop of the company accepting that our members both require and deserve an improved pay award.

BT Grievance Procedure click on grievances.pdf