Get 40% Off
🤯 This Tech Portfolio is up 29% YTD! Join Now to Get April’s Top PicksGet The Picks – Just 99 USD

BT staff latest in Britain to vote for strikes over pay

Published 30/06/2022, 16:13
Updated 30/06/2022, 23:01
© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Logo of British Telecom (BT) is displayed outside a store in London, Britain, November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Logo of British Telecom (BT) is displayed outside a store in London, Britain, November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

By Sachin Ravikumar

LONDON (Reuters) -Thousands of BT call centre and engineering staff voted on Thursday to strike over demands for better pay at the telecoms group, the latest in wave of labour disputes across industries that threatens a summer of disruption in Britain.

Almost 96% of roughly 21,000 BT Openreach engineers voted in favour of a strike, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said in a press briefing. Some 91.5% of BT Group (LON:BT) workers who voted, many of them call centre staff, also favoured a strike, the union said.

Any strike — which would be the first in 35 years at the telecoms group — will have a "serious effect" on infrastructure, particularly on broadband rollout, and may cause disruption to phone and internet users including those working from home, CWU said.

The union called BT's award this year of a 1,500-pound ($1,823) pay hike to frontline workers, which translates to 3%-8% increases, as "incredibly low" and insufficient to cushion the impact of a cost-of-living crisis. BT has called the pay award its biggest in 20 years.

British inflation, which reached 9.1% last month, is at its highest in four decades, contributing to strikes or threats of industrial action by workers across transport services, schools, postal services and hospitals.

"Call centre workers are some of the most casualised and isolated workforces in this country ... the unprecedented vote they have taken today demonstrates the anger so many people feel in this country today," CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said in a statement.

BT Chief Executive Philip Jansen's most recent annual pay jumped 32% year-over-year to 3.5 million pounds ($4.3 million) — a figure the CWU says is 86 times the average pay across BT's Openreach, BT and EE divisions.

"The result of the CWU's ballot is a disappointment but we will work to keep our customers and the country connected," a BT Group spokesperson said.

"Our job is to balance the competing demands of BT Group's stakeholders and that requires careful management, especially in a challenging economic environment."

© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Logo of British Telecom (BT) is displayed outside a store in London, Britain, November 15, 2019. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

Turnout of union members at BT's EE mobile brand was under the 50% required for a strike to be legally valid, the CWU said.

($1 = 0.8229 pounds)

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.