Original article ISPreview UK:Read More
Telecoms and broadband giant BT appears to be facing another dispute over workers pay after the Prospect union, which represents a majority of staff at management grades within the UK company, overwhelmingly rejected a “derisory” pay offer from the employer (96% of those who voted elected to reject the offer on turnout of 68%).
According to the union, which represents over 16,000 people working in UK Information Technology and Telecoms (including a significant portion of BT staff), the pay offer presented by BT reflected an “average of 1.24%, less than half the rate of inflation, with 28% getting no pay rise at all“.
The union appears to have been further irritated by yesterday’s publication of BT’s results, which saw the operator increase its dividend at the same time as being in a dispute with staff over pay.
Rachel Curley, Deputy General Secretary of Prospect, said:
“BT’s decision to increase its dividend at the same time as giving a derisory or non-existent pay rise to managers shows the disregard they have for Prospect members.
People will be incensed that when 28% of managers are being offered a 0% pay rise, and the offer is worth 1.24% on average, the company has taken this decision to increase dividends.
The overwhelming rejection this week of the insulting pay offer shows the strength of feeling among our members. We have subsequently notified the employer that we are now in a formal trade dispute with them in the hope that BT will now offer a fair deal.
If an acceptable offer does not materialise in the coming weeks, we will be looking at all options available to us.”
A BT spokesperson said:
“The pay proposal presented to Prospect allocated the budget we had available in the fairest way possible, awarding a 3 percent increase to managers whose pay is least competitive compared to the market range for their role, with lower awards for those who are more competitively paid versus the market. We use independent third-party pay data to ensure our market ranges are up to date, and review this on an annual basis.”
Readers may recall that BT’s last big bust up with a union occurred between 2021 and 2022, when tens of thousands of related members of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) engaged in several bouts of national strike action against the company, before a deal was ultimately agreed.
At the time, some of the same managers now complaining about their pay, via Prospect, were known to toe the company line against striking CWU workers, which probably won’t win them much sympathy from the operator’s wider workforce this time around. The hope still exists that both sides can come to an agreement before things take a turn for the worst.