BT and Openreach staff walk out in strike over pay

Thousands of BT and Openreach staff staged fresh strike action on Tuesday as part of an ongoing pay dispute with the telecoms giant.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said more than 40,000 of its members are striking today and on Wednesday.

It coincides with further strikes at Royal Mail, where 115,000 CWU members are set to walk out on 31 August.

Separately, major unions are seeking to co-ordinate strike action this autumn as they step up demands for better pay.

Unite and Unison have have submitted motions ahead of the Trade Union Congress next month which call for future walkouts to be synchronised.

It follows a wave of strike action across the UK which has spanned a range of sectors including rail workers, barristers and rubbish collectors.

The CWU said its members are striking against a £1,500 pay rise offered by BT Group. “The reason for the strike is simple: workers will not accept a massive deterioration in their living standards,” said CWU general secretary Dave Ward.

BT Group said the offer represented an increase of around 5% on average which rose to 8% for the lowest paid and was the highest pay rise in more than 20 years.

But Mr Ward said: “In the context of Retail Price Index inflation levels already hitting 11.7% this year, this is a dramatic real-terms pay cut.”

“These are the same workers who kept the country connected during the pandemic,” he said. “Without CWU members, there would have been no home-working revolution, and vital technical infrastructure may have malfunctioned or been broken when our country most needed it.”

A spokesperson for BT said: “We know that our colleagues are dealing with the impacts of high inflation and, although we’re disappointed, we respect their decision to strike.

“We have made the best pay award we could and we are in constant discussions with the CWU to find a way forward from here.”

It is the second time that BT workers have gone out on strike this year.

Postal workers at Royal Mail will also be going out on strike again, resuming on Wednesday – while two more days of industrial action will be held on 8-9 September.

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A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “The CWU’s self-centred actions with the wider trade union movement is putting jobs at risk, and making pay rises less affordable… making Royal Mail’s future more uncertain than at any time in its long history.”

“The CWU is deflecting to avoid talking about the changes we need to make as a business,” the spokesperson added.

The BBC has contacted the CWU for a response.