Coverage of BT, Openreach and EE Strike Ballot Inside
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Spring 2021 BT Count Me In Campaign P4/5 Royal Mail Pathway to Change P7/8/11 Equality Special Conference preview P16/17 Trans awareness P22/23 IT’S TIME TO MAKE A STAND Coverage of BT, Openreach and EE strike ballot inside GS COLUMN DGS (T&FS) GET IN TOUCH... We must now prepare for the dispute to come CWU HQ – all enquiries “ 150 The Broadway, The latest from Wimbledon, London ur ongoing dispute with BT over Their highly principled stand is an SW19 1RX T: 020 8971 7200 Dave Ward, your compulsory redundancies and inspiration to us all and goes to the heart of In most cases your branch should be Omultiple attacks on terms and what being in a trade union and working as your first point of contact. Details are General Secretary conditions is drawing to a head, with a collective is all about. Please take a look at on your membership card. BT showing no signs of backing down in the article about our fantastic RPE members Harassment Helpline negotiations. further on in this edition. (P9) 0800 090 2303 We have had no alternative but to take the Have you changed your address, decision to hold a nationwide industrial action ‘ Our ongoing workplace or hours? It is just over a year since the first deaths from coronavirus ballot and, when that ballot takes place, the Please inform CWU about any telecoms and financial services executive is dispute with BT changes to your membership details. were recorded in the UK and it’s been a year when we’ve been unanimous in urging you to vote YES. There are three different ways to over compulsory update your membership details: reminded about whose work is really valuable to society. There’s a full and detailed article on the redundancies and issue on the following pages, but for now, I Option 1 – Log into the members’ There’s no doubt that CWU members have proved themselves want to express how much we appreciate the multiple attacks on only section of the CWU website (www.cwu.org), using the username to be absolutely essential in keeping the country connected. full support of the whole union in our struggle terms and conditions and password you have previously and ask every one of you to prepare for the been sent, and change your own dispute to come. is drawing to a details. n these circumstances, when key workers have What is crucial in the Pathway to Change head, and we must Option 2 – Contact your branch been applauded for their efforts and there’s a agreement, is the commitment from Royal Mail to secretary with your new details. I growing consensus that we must build a better working with us on a new strategy; to growing in new prepare for the Option 3 – Contact CWU HQ on society for the future, expectations on employers areas, to providing new services and to tapping into dispute to come.’ 020 8971 7447 or email your new de- change. They must live up to their responsibility to the knowledge of our members on the frontline in tails to [email protected] and we the country and their workers. order to do this. Of course taking industrial action in will make the necessary changes. In BT, we are now seeing the opposite. For the Expanding the role of postal workers in their Covid times it not a decision we take lightly, Please help us help you – keep your past nine months with the Count Me In campaign, communities, providing new products for local particularly due to the impending impact the details up to date. our members have been taking a stand against a huge businesses and investing and innovating is the way pandemic has and will continue to have on cost-cutting programme of compulsory redundancies, Royal Mail stays relevant and has a future. future jobs and the economy. Almost all of private homes and it’s vital that the trade attacks on terms and conditions and site closures that As negotiators, we know that this agreement was our telecoms and financial services members union movement seeks safeguards that protect is just getting started. only possible because of the magnificent support have worked throughout the crisis – keeping privacy and ensures surveillance isn’t used in a The 97.9 per cent yes vote in last year’s of our members and our representative structures. the UK connected, delivering fibre broadband discriminatory way. consultative ballot sent a clear message to BT – our We now have the platform to create our future and and providing contact centre help and advice, We must also recognise, that those who CWU Legal Services: UNIONLINE members won’t accept this and we are not backing we must continue to work together to seize this including vital financial support to people simply can’t work remotely – often the least 0300 333 0303 down. In Openreach, engineers are already taking opportunity. and businesses. We’re proud of the resilience well-off and those living in cramped or shared UNIONLINE is the CWU’s very own strike action and we will now be balloting for Finally, in this edition of The Voice there is a and bravery they’ve shown. Our members’ accommodation – stand to be the worst law firm offering members and their industrial action across the whole of BT in the focus on the union’s equality and proportionality Of course, we all hope that the company contribution over the past year should be affected by any widespread shift to ‘expected’ families a fast route to free, coming weeks. agenda, something that has become all the more will see sense and move away from compulsory recognised and rewarded. or ‘enforced’ homeworking. comprehensive legal advice. To all our members in BT my message is simple – important with the issues exposed by the pandemic. redundancies – but we must all be prepared for For our members who have been fortunate The CWU will be watching closely and To register a claim or for any now is the time to stand together and the union will But I also want to say this; bringing equality action if this does not happen. to keep their family and loved ones safe by standing firm to ensure our members privacy legal advice call UNIONLINE back you all the way. We have built a machine that can into the mainstream and ensuring our key political I’d also like to express once again my being part of the giant ‘experiment’ in working is protected and those who are unable to on 0300 333 0303 deliver and we will mobilise all of the resources of the and industrial campaigns reflect all our members’ huge admiration for our repayment project at home, this is now throwing up profound work at home aren’t faced with compulsory More information at union to do so. priorities and experiences is fundamental to us as a engineers in Openreach who, by the time of questions over the future world of work. redundancy. www.unionline.co.uk The dispute with Royal Mail, and the agreement union. reading, will have taken 10 days of strike action While some, but not all, employers Editor The Voice the union secured last year, is an example of what It is what allows us to bring people together and in the absence of any management rethink of have embraced new ways of working that Karl Stewart we can achieve. For years, the company had seen it underpins collective action. With the challenges imposed changes to the grading of the RPE seemed inconceivable pre-pandemic there’s [email protected] the key to its future as becoming a low-cost parcels we face across the movement, there has never been a role. no doubt that employers are also waking up Design CWU operator, abandoning the USO and joining the race more important time for this. to potential benefits for their bottom line. Cover image © Max Miechowski to the bottom in order to compete. It was clear this Already it looks probable that some companies Andy Kerr would never secure our members’ jobs and terms and will never return to an entirely office-based DEPUTY GENERAL SECRETARY conditions for the future. model. Instead, more and more companies (T&FS) CWU DEATH BENEFIT are contemplating a ‘new normal’ based on a In accordance with the terms ex- hybrid of remote and office working. pressed in CWU Rule 4.1.11, branches Dave Ward Hybrid working could work for many are advised that from the 1st October members and it’s an area we’ve pursued 2020 the CWU Death Benefit payment ‘ BT members: Now GENERAL SECRETARY increased to £857. in BT, asking them to consider this as an Any enquiries regarding this letter is the time to stand alternative to redundancy for people whose should be addressed to the senior offices are closing. However, whilst it may deputy general secretary’s department together and this work for some, trade unions need to approach on telephone number 020 8971 7237 or email [email protected] union will back you all the potential new way of working with trepidation. Widespread homeworking has the way.’ massively increased the level of surveillance and workplace monitoring taking place in 2 THE VOICE | SPRING 2021 THE VOICE | SPRING 2021 3 COUNT ME IN COUNT ME IN BT BOSSES: YOU WANTED A FIGHT– YOU’VE GOT ONE! NATIONAL INDUSTRIAL ACTION BALLOT CALLED ACROSS BT, OPENREACH & EE BT Group’s refusal to properly negotiate with the union or halt its brutal compulsory redundancy programme has left the CWU with no choice.