BT braced for mass walkout

Union representing over 50,000 BT workers preparing to go on strike

BT staff have been angered by the firm's refusal to offer better pay

More than 50,000 BT employees are set to go on strike after pay talks between the company and The Communication Workers Union (CWU) broke down.

Earlier this week, BT improved its pay offer to staff after the CWU threatened to ballot its members over strike action. The CWU has since rejected the improved offer, and accused BT of “blatant double standards”.

BT is offering a 2 per cent pay rise at a time when inflation is at 5.3 per cent. The CWU claims this marks “a 2.4 per cent pay cut at a time of spiralling profits”.

The CWU stated that blue collar workers should be rewarded for their contribution to the company making cost savings of £1.75 billion and profits of over £1 billion last year.

The union claims BT is set to offer its senior executives large pay rises and bonuses, describing the offer to lesser-paid workers as "nothing short of an insult to the very employees who have helped secure BT's remarkable turnaround" .

“With the company refusing to budge from a 'final' offer of just 2 per cent, the CWU's Telecoms & Financial Services Executive has taken the decision to ballot for industrial action,” the CWU said in a statement.

BT has responded with a statement saying the door has always been open to the CWU and that the revised offer contains many new elements that would benefit their members.

“We are disappointed by their initial response. Not only have we tabled an improved offer for 2010 and a new one for 2011, we have also offered new guarantees on job security and were prepared to go the extra mile to try and settle this,” read the statement.

“BT has been flexible in these negotiations for many months now but the union have not moved from their initial claim of a 5 per cent pay rise for this year alone.”

The CWU has now begun preparations for the company's first national strike in 23 years.