Issue No. 109/20 | 29th May 2020
BT PENSION
REVIEW AGREEMENT 2018 – TEAM MEMBER REDUNDANCY TERMS UNDER ATTACK
Dear Member,
I am writing to you about
the communication you will have received this morning from BT in relation
to a ‘review’ on contractual redundancy and paid leaver terms for all BT
employees in the UK. As part of this review BT has served 12 months’ notice
on our whole 2018 Pension Agreement.
The legally binding and
contractual redundancy agreement was negotiated just two years ago and was
an appendix to the pensions review agreement. We have only recently,
informally been told of BT’s intention to review the agreement and received
formal notice on Wednesday 27th May 2020.
This alarming news will
certainly concern you, particularly in the wake of other unagreed changes to future terms and conditions,
compulsory redundancies in Enterprise and the Better Workforce site closure
programme. BT are undoubtedly making a further
move to reduce redundancy terms for our members.
This is a unilateral and
provocative move from BT, with wide ranging implications. We have no doubt that BT
is making this move to reduce the redundancy terms for our members.
·
BT could
have asked the CWU to jointly amend the redundancy agreement without
opening a full twelve-month consultation on the pension’s agreement.
Instead it took a confrontational approach.
·
The
legally binding pension’s agreement impacts on everyone (BTRSS, BTPS and
Hybrid). Ending that agreement means that BT could change pension’s
arrangements in future after only 60 days consultation. If there is
no intent to alter pensions, BT should keep the legally binding pension
provisions in place.
·
The
legally binding and contractual redundancy agreement provides BT and
Openreach members with a maximum of 104 weeks redundancy plus up to an
additional twelve weeks if you apply Pay in Lieu of Notice. Be under no
illusion our terms are now under threat
·
The
existing agreement provides our members with legally binding approach to
job surpluses in order to avoid compulsory redundancy such as consideration
of onshoring, reduction of contractors and agency
staff, recruitment freezes. It also provides pay and pension
protection for those that are retrained and reskilled.
The formal notice to
terminate the BT Pension Review Agreement 2018 will take effect no earlier
than the 28th May 2021 unless another date is agreed with the CWU.
The CWU will continue to
fight for job security and will be insisting on new contractual redundancy
terms and a new legally binding pension agreement.
It is clear from recent
developments that BT is attacking our hard-won terms and conditions on
multiple fronts. There has never been a more important time to
be in the CWU.
We will stand together
to protect job security in BT.
Look out for mere in the
coming weeks. In the meantime, please make sure we have your up to date
contact details, including your home email address.
Contact
the CWU
The Union
remains here to keep you safe and assist you through this difficult time.
If you have concerns or need assistance if possible, please contact your
local rep or Branch. If you don’t know which Branch you are in you can find
out via www.cwu.org/contact-us.
Yours sincerely
Andy Kerr
Deputy General Secretary
(T&FS)