BT STRIKE BALLOT

9th July 2010

CWU reaches agreement with BT on 3 year pay settlement

Head Office has issued Letter To Branches 607 which gives more information

The CWU withdrew the ballot for strike action over BT pay on 5th July after legal advice indicated that BT had a relatively strong chance of securing an injunction against the ballot.

Rather than commit the union to a long and expensive process of litigation that was not in our favour, we resolved to make preparations for a fresh Notice of Ballot. However, we also agreed to use the period of time between ballot notices as a window of opportunity to meet with BT and explore whether a resolution to the dispute was possible.

The union met with BT on 6th and 7th July where the CWU pay team secured an offer that is significantly above the company's previous final offer, and which we believe is reasonable in the current climate.

BT's final offer for pay increases for all Team Member NewGRID grades is as follows:

• A 3% consolidated and fully pensionable increase to base pay which will flow through to pay-related allowances, including the pay and pension supplement, backdated to 1 January 2010, for all employees in post at the point of implementation which we expect to be August 2010.


• A 3% consolidated and fully pensionable increase to base pay which will flow through to pay-related allowances, including the pay and pension supplement, from 1 January 2011.


• A 3% consolidated and fully pensionable increase to base pay which will flow through to pay-related allowances, including the pay and pension supplement, from 1 January 2012. For this part of the review only should the November 2011 RPI (published in December 2011) be above 3.2% or below 2.5% then both sides agree to meet and to discuss the impact of this and seek to agree an optimum position. Both parties agree to enter into these discussions to seek to ensure that the impact of a volatile RPI is mitigated, both for the business and employees.


• Following the above measures the next Pay Review date will be 1 April 2013.

The offer has been considered by the CWU's Telecom and Financial Services Executive, who have agreed to recommend it to the membership.

The offer is fully consolidated and pensionable and it provides a 9.3% increase to basic pay over three years.

The offer is within the top range of pay settlements in April as recorded by Incomes Data Services (IDS Pay Report July 2010).

The CWU is currently making arrangements to hold a consultative ballot on the offer, and we will be sending members a ballot paper by post in the coming days.

Although the CWU's ballot for strike action was ultimately withdrawn, feedback from members and branches indicated that there was overwhelming support in favour of a yes vote. Combined with our clear commitment to re-ballot in the absence of an improved offer, this would have played a major part in BT's decision to invite us back to the negotiating table with a significantly improved pay offer.

CWU Head Office website is http://www.cwu.org