BT and CWU agree three-year pay deal

Agreement worth three per cent per year to March 2013

CWU to ballot members in coming weeks recommending pay deal with BT

The pay dispute between BT and the Communications Workers Union (CWU) has been settled.

BT and the CWU announced the details of the pay package today, saying that the deal would see team members receive pensionable pay rises of three per cent each financial year from April 2010 to March 2013.

CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said they were "delighted to have resolved this pay dispute through talks, following very difficult negotiations and the first national ballot for strike action in BT since 1987."

Ian Livingstone, BT chief executive, said in statement that the agreement was good for everyone: "BT, its employees, shareholders and customers."

Earlier this week a ballot of BT workers for strikes over pay was cancelled following legal advice, which the CWU said could invalidate any result.

The CWU was balloting members in support of a five per cent pay rise, while BT had offered a 5.1 per cent rise over 21 months.

"We'll benefit from a long period of certainty while our employees will have financial stability during uncertain economic times," said Livingstone, adding that "industrial action would have been in no one’s interest.”

Kerr pointed out that "although our ballot for strike action was ultimately withdrawn, we believe it played a major part in getting BT back to the negotiating table."

Kerr said the pay and pension supplement would be backdated to 1 January 2010 "for all employees in post at the point of implementation [of the pay deal] which we expect to be August 2010."

BT and the CWU have also agreed to meet to discuss the impact of any volatility in the retail price index (RPI) should the November 2011 RPI be above 3.5 per cent or below 2.5 per cent.

CWU will hold a consultative ballot of members recommending that they endorse the deal in the coming weeks.