BT faces industrial action over pay

BT’s pay offer for managerial and professional staff was rejected at the Connect telecoms union conference last month, opening the way for the start of industrial action based on an earlier postal ballot.

Performance pay and equal pay were at the heart of the dispute, although other issues were at stake in a complex offer. Connect members were asked to work their contractual hours and to stop going the extra mile: “Switch off your phone, BlackBerry and PC when you have worked a normal day, and don’t turn them on again.”

The proposed budget for 2008, set at RPI plus 0.5%, was expected to cover individual performance, movement in the “market” and pay progression for those low in the salary range, as well as a cost of living rise. For some staff this translated into a “zero percent” pay rise, at a time when inflation is rising.

Many first-line managers earn no more — and in many cases less — than the staff they manage, who get separate cost of living and progression rises, but the company seems wedded to its existing approach.

It also proposed to make 0.5% of the pay bill available to support an equal pay review, but the union says that this “palliative” approach doesn’t resolve the issue on a permanent basis.