BT national strike threatens to severely hamper broadband as employees set to walk out

Announcement of the results from BT Group strike ballots

According to reports, around 25,000 members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) at BT and Openreach and 9,000 BT call centre workers were balloted and overwhelmingly backed industrial action, the (CWU) recently said. BT employees have voted overwhelmingly in favour of holding a national strike for the first time in 35 years, sparking the latest industrial action dispute over wages.

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The proposed strike action will plunge infrastructure into chaos, causing significant issues to the rollout of broadband, detrimentally impacting those who work from home.

A BT spokesman said the company was "in the middle of a once-in-a-generation investment programme to upgrade the country's broadband and mobile networks".

The spokesman continued, saying: "The result of the CWU's ballot is a disappointment but we will work to keep our customers and the country connected.”

The proposed actions follow an announcement from Royal Mail who will be striking in a dispute over jobs, the Unite union said.

BT national strike threatens to severely hamper broadband as employees set to walk out (Image: Getty Images)

Royal Mail bosses plan to cut 542 frontline delivery managers’ jobs alongside a redeployment programme to bring in worsening terms and conditions, the union said.

The dispute involves around 2,400 managers across more than 1,000 delivery offices.

Prices are rising at their fastest rate with UK inflation at a 40-year high of 9.1percent.

Higher costs for food, unprecedented energy bills and soaring fuel prices are putting households under pressure and workers and unions are pushing for pay rises to help them cope.

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But the government has warned against bosses giving big wage increases for fear of causing a 1970s style "inflationary spiral", where firms hike wages and then pass the cost on to customers through higher prices.

This year BT gave staff a £1,500 per year pay rise but CWU said that with price rises at record highs “this is a dramatic real-terms pay cut”.

It said BT made £1.3billion in annual profit and the company’s chief executive, Philip Jansen, received a £3.5million salary – a 32 percent increase.

General Secretary of the CWU, Dave Ward, stated yesterday: "These workers kept this country connected during the pandemic" and without them there would have been "no home-working revolution".

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He added: "BT posted profits earlier this year of £1.3billion and they also paid out £700million to their shareholders."

The communications company awarded all "frontline" workers, including engineers, contact centre and retail workers, across its BT Openreach, Plusnet and EE brands a £1,500 annual pay increase and had said this was a rise of up to eight percent for some and more than three percent for the highest-paid

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