BT faces walkout as strike ballot begins

18th Jun 2010 11:44

The row over pay at telecoms giant BT intensified today as the union balloted staff over strike action.Leaders of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) want a 5% increase in wages for its 55,000 members at BT, but the company wants to spread the cost.It has offered 2% more this year and another 3% next year, but that's not good enough for the CWU, which his preparing to lead the first national strike at BT since 1987The ballot closes on 5 July, and BT, which made over £1bn in the 12 months to March, has been warned by the CWU that any legal challenge to the ballot will not solve the dispute.Andy Kerr, the union's deputy general secretary, said it was "seeking an affordable and reasonable pay rise for our members in BT". There's anger at what the CWU calls "double standards" when pay increases for bosses are compared with other staff. Chief executive Ian Livingstone is set to get a 6% rise this year, although 4% is promised to charity, while finance director Tony Chanmugam is in line for 7%."The company's claim that a 5% pay rise for staff would lead to cutting back and making redundancies is an unbelievable fat-cat excuse - it would cost 3.6% of available cash flow, hardly breaking the bank," says Kerr. "Our members have had a pay freeze, pension changes and redundancies over the last two years but now the company is profitable, inflation is high and BT is paying out big money to shareholders and senior executives," he added. "If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for our members."