BT accused of 'misinformation' campaign ahead of strikes
- Reference: 1658997008
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2022/07/28/bt_running_misinformation_campaign_ahead/
- Source link:
The industrial action is due to start tomorrow and run again on August 1 in protest over pay award in April, and the Communication Workers Union is encouraging members to hold their nerve.
Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary for the CWU's telecoms and financial services membership, said in a message to unionized staff at Britain's national telco:
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"Currently, there are many rumors and pieces of misinformation circulating around BT and Openreach. These anti-strike myths are being circulated by Team Leaders and Line Managers who will be under instruction from Senior BT bosses to do so."
[2]
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He reminded BT workers that they do not need to inform their line manager of their intention to strike, do not need to divulge how they voted in the ballot of industrial action, cannot be sacked for lawful strike action and they can down tools even if they aren't a member of the CWU.
Further, he said apprentices and trainees can strike, a Newgrid grade cannot be changed after an employee goes on strike and employees can still protest if they work from home.
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"Make no mistake, these cynical tactics are a concerted and planned effort to weaken your resolve and break your strike," said Kerr.
The industrial action follows a [5]dispute between BT and the CWU over the imposition of a flat £1,500 ($1,825) pay rise paid to 58,000 frontline workers in April. BT initially offered £1,200 ($1,460) before increasing it.
The CWU has repeatedly said the pay award was an effective pay cut, given that UK inflation is already at 9.4 percent and is expected to rise to more than 11 percent this year.
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The union highlighted that BT made £1.3 billion ($1.582 billion) net profit in the year ended 31 March 2022, and that BT CEO Philip Jansen got a 32 percent pay rise to £3.2 million ($3.89 billion), while BT CFO Simon Loweth received a 25 percent rise to £2.2 million ($2.68 million).
BT, the CWU claimed, refused to re-enter negotiations about pay and so members were balloted for industrial action. The [7]June ballot saw 74.78 percent of 30,000 Openreach staff turn out, and of these 95.6 percent opted to strike. Some 60 percent of 9,000 BT call center workers also showed up, with 91.5 percent of those voting to strike.
BT previously told us it had been involved in "exhaustive discussions" with the CWU over the annual rise but went ahead and paid staff when it became apparent an accord would not be reached. It also said it would not re-open the 2022 pay review as it balances investments in a cap-ex intensive industry.
We asked BT to comment about the claims from the CWU, and a spokesperson sent us this statement:
"While we're disappointed that the CWU has decided to take industrial action, we respect the decision by their members to take industrial action. We are complying with all legal requirements throughout the industrial action process. We have a responsibility to all of our colleagues, including the many thousands who won't be taking part in industrial action, and to our customers."
[8]Price, lead times and scarcity of fiber optics may derail projects
[9]CityFibre loses appeal against Openreach discounts for ISPs
[10]BT strikes to start this month, 40,000 workers to down tools
[11]US, UK, Western Europe fail to hit top 50 cheapest broadband list
They added: "We will work to minimize any disruption and keep our customers and the country connected. We have tried and tested processes for large scale colleague absences to minimize any disruption for our customers and these were proved during the pandemic.
"BT Group awarded a fully consolidated pay increase to its Team Member and frontline colleagues of £1,500. This represents a pay rise of around 5 percent on average and 8 percent for the lowest paid and it was effective from 1 April 2022. This is the highest pay award BT Group has made in over 20 years.”
Industry experts previously told The Reg it will be hard for BT to entirely cover for strike action of this magnitude and there will inevitably be delays to new service provisions.
"The latter will stretch from consumer broadband to high capacity Ethernet lines, etc. Openreach have said that they've put dedicated business continuity and resilience teams in place for just such an eventuality, but we'd expect this to focus on key management, network repairs and upkeep work," said Mark Jackson, editor-in-chief at ISP Review.
Paolo Pescatore, analyst at PP Foresight, told us last month BT would be prioritizing repairs and maintenance during any strike action. "This is set to be the summer of discontent for BT." ®
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[5] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/08/bt/
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/08/bt_cwu_strike_date/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/25/fiber_optic_price_lead_time_and_scarcity/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/22/cityfibre_openreach_appeal/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/15/bt_strikes_to_start_this/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2022/04/05/global_cheapest_broadband/
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Phillip Jansen 32% Simon Loweth 25%
People who do the actual work: £1,500.
It's obvious that there is money to spunk away when it comes to executive pay rises.
How greedy and stupid do you have to be to think you can get away with this shit?
"This represents a pay rise of around 5 percent on average"
Nice.
Where's the other 25% that the CEO got ?
CEO Philip Jansen got a 32 percent pay rise to £3.2 million
It's this type of tone deaf arrogance and greed, in the face of what is going to be a painful time for so many who aren't part of the gilded circle, that is going to exacerbate the backlash from workers and the general public. If he had the sense to announce that in solidarity with the workers, he was going to limit his pay rise to the flat rate £1500 too this year, it would have calmed the employee anger significantly, which might have lessened the appetite for strike action, and therefore been beneficial to the company.
Deciding that moderation is only for the little people and it's time for the big cheeses to fill their boots is just inviting a huge backlash. (Also, don't inform me that it wasn't his decision, but the remuneration committee's - they all sit on the committees of each others companies and award each other these huge pay rises).
Misinformation Is Cheaper Than The Truth
As others have pointed out, Jansen and Loweth (just two examples) have had 32% and 25% increases while the staff get a pittance. I am a BT customer, and they had no trouble telling me my bill was going to increase quite significantly this year in line with inflation. So if they are experiencing an increase in costs, they raise their prices to get more money. What are their workers meant to do? Be happy to be employed and use a food bank?
Fuck the management, and the management of other companies up and down the UK for this neo-liberalist shit soup they can't get enough of. I read there are fears of a general strike, there is no fear of one. We need one, and everyone should attend their own picket in solidarity with BT staff, ASLEF, RMT, every union in the country that has the rights of their workers at heart.
That goes for Labour as well. Starmer has laid his cards out on the table, he has no interest in the rights of workers, just the bosses who have put us in to this inflationary mess who are only concerned with profit.
Solidarity.
That claim that it's 8% for their lowest paid workers...
That's basically someone aged 21 on a salary of around £19,000pa. That's a minimum wage job. And 8% is well below inflation.
Whilst I support the concept of fixed amount cost of living increases across the board, coupled with performance bonuses and profit sharing increases by grade to reflect contribution of effort to company performance, this BT offer is quite literally a slap in the face.It is clearly not being applied outside the graded pay scales.
The unions are quite right - it should be double that. That would close the gap between the highest and lowest graded salary. Restraint should be shown in the negotiated salary bands - it's causing incredible anger.
To put it in perspective the full £3,000 rise over a year would put just £150 per month into the pocket. My mortgage has gone up by that much in the last 6 months alone. The energy and communications bills together have gone up by £40 a month in the same 6 month period. Food is up by £50 a month. I lost the car during lockdown, but if I still had it, then that would have gone from £50 a month before lockdown to £75 a month now.
Dirty tricks?
I can't believe that such an honorable company as BT would indulge in such tactics.
/s