CWU victory on BT agency staff


The CWU communication workers’ union’s Close the Gap campaign has notched up a notable victory, with telecoms giant BT finally agreeing to the union’s longstanding demand for an end to exploitative “Pay Between Assignment” (PBA) contracts. They will phased out by the end of March 2019.


Deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said: “There can be absolutely no doubt that tireless CWU campaigning — to expose way these contracts exploit a cunning legal loophole that exempts their holders from hard won rights to equal treatment on pay … has played a significant part in bringing this change about.”


Despite wave after wave of agency conversions in recent years, which have seen more than 800 Manpower employees offered permanent BT contracts, over 1,000 agency employees continue to conduct predominantly call centre roles in the business.


However, in BT Consumer, agency workers will now have the opportunity to secure a permanent BT contract.


And in other lines of business, where there are a few remaining PBA contracts, BT will continue to review their resource plans in conjunction with the CWU.


Nevertheless, assistant secretary Sally Bridge, who has led the CWU’s agency campaigning, said there would be no-let up in the union’s “ongoing and highly successful political campaign for what’s really needed — namely a change in the law that abolishes PBA contracts once and for all”.

https://www.cwu.org/news/cwu-victory-on-bt-pba-agency-contracts