Thousands of BT and Openreach workers are to strike on Friday (29 July) in a dispute over pay.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) - which represents almost 200,000 members working in the UK communications industry - said it will be the first national telecoms strike since 1987 and the biggest ever among call centre workers. Staff will also walk out on Monday (1 August) after union members voted in favour of industrial action in protest at a £1,500 pay rise.
Full time CWU rep and former BT employee Caroline Gillies, 47, recently revealed how some people are "struggling to get into work" due to the high price of fuel. She added: "People have got children at home and they can't afford to buy themselves or their children food."
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BT revealed its first sales growth for five years on Thursday as the telecoms giant benefited from price increases for customers earlier this year. The group said it was also boosted by more people signing up for fibre-optic broadband and strong trading in its Openreach network business.
BT told shareholders that revenues increased by 1% to £5.1 billion for the three months to June 30. This comes as UK inflation soared to 9.4% in June, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show, marking a 40-year high as the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit hard across the country.
CWU general secretary Dave Ward said: “BT are now gaslighting our members. Announcing hundreds of millions of pounds in profit on the eve of the first national strike since 1987 smacks of arrogance and complete contempt for frontline workers.
“BT workers have hundreds of picket lines arranged across the UK tomorrow, and will support the CWU in delivering mass strike action. This dispute sits squarely at the feet of chief executive Philip Jansen.
“He represents everything that needs to change about big business in Britain. Our members kept the country connected during the pandemic.
“They deserve a proper pay rise, and that’s what they’re going to get.”
Mr Ward added: “Workers at BT Group will never accept their bosses using Swiss banks while they use food banks. They deserve a proper pay rise, like all workers do.”
A BT Group spokesperson said: “At the start of this year, we were in exhaustive discussions with the CWU that lasted for two months, trying hard to reach an agreement on pay. When it became clear that we were not going to reach an accord, we took the decision to go ahead with awarding our team member and frontline colleagues the highest pay award in more than 20 years.
“We have confirmed to the CWU that we won’t be reopening the 2022 pay review, having already made the best award we could. We’re balancing the complex and competing demands of our stakeholders and that includes making once-in-a-generation investments to upgrade the country’s broadband and mobile networks, vital for the UK economy and for BT Group’s future – including our people.
“While we respect the choice of our colleagues who are CWU members to strike, we will work to minimise any disruption and keep our customers and the country connected. We have tried and tested processes for large-scale colleague absences to minimise any disruption for our customers and these were proved during the pandemic.”
This comes after strikes among rail workers ground much of the UK to a halt on Wednesday, with further walkouts planned on Saturday and in the coming weeks. Staff from exam board AQA are set for a 72-hour strike over a pay dispute on 29, 30 and 31 July.
Royal Mail workers have also voted for a walkout, though no exact date has been set as yet.
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