BT Group and unions have agreed an improved pay deal in a bid to end industrial action, with the lowest paid staff set to receive an additional £1,500 compared with last year.
Under the new deal, which bosses at the Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Prospect are recommending their members accept, all but the highest paid staff would receive a pay rise.
From 1 January 2023, all UK employees at BT Group who currently earn less than £50,000 would see their pay rise by at least £1,500. This covers all frontline staff, 51% of managers and 85% of UK-based BT Group employees.
When combined with a pay increase made in April, lowest paid staff would see wages increase by more than 15% compared with this time last year, BT said.
The deal also covers Openreach staff.
Chief executive Peter Jansen said: “This award is based on the principles we have followed throughout this difficult period. It gets help to as many of our colleagues as possible; favours our lower paid colleagues; and gives people the security of a built-in, pensionable increase to their pay.
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“Crucially, it has been worked on in conjunction with the CWU. As I’ve said throughout, whatever our differences, our unions are vital partners. We will now build on this collaboration.”
The CWU said workers will see their pay increase by different levels depending on their grade, ranging from 6% to nearly 16%.
General secretary Dave Ward said the pay deal would not have been reached without strike action by its members in the summer.
“The bravery these workers displayed caught the sympathy of the country, and shocked the company out of its complacency,” he said. “I hope they will let their voices be heard in the forthcoming ballot.”
Prospect national secretary John Ferrett said: “Throughout lengthy discussions with BT we have focused on achieving as much financial support as possible for members struggling with the cost-of-living crisis, and have been clear throughout that managers must not be left out of any solution.
“We recognise that some members will be disappointed by the scope of this offer, but it is a marked improvement, representing both a larger, consolidated payment and one that is applied to considerably more managers than originally proposed.
“We have been clear with BT that we will continue to push for other ways to help our members through these incredibly challenging times.”
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Unions across a variety of sectors have been pushing for pay rises in line with inflation. The consumer prices index annual inflation in October 2022 was 11.1%, but the retail prices index, which is no longer an official measure of inflation but is often used by trade unions in pay negotiations, reached 14.2%.
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