Telecoms and Financial Services Conference
The 2008 Telecoms and Financial Services Conference took place from Wednesday 11 to Friday 13 June 2008.
The T&FS Conference only deals with issues that affect Telecoms and Financial Services members, often specific issues with employers like BT. The Sessions on Wednesday, Thursday morning and Friday morning cover items applicable to all T&FS members. On Thursday afternoon the Engineering and Clerical sections have sessions dedicated to their issues.
Wednesday 11 June 2008
BT Fleet
There were three motions relating to BT fleet people; one concerning having regular MT forums was withdrawn, another concerning fuel provision in all workshops was remitted. A composite motion submitted by Central London, Meridian and Western MT branches to carry out a full and complete grading review of all CWU represented grades within BT Fleet was carried. The motion called for the review to be carried out with a view to upgrade as many posts as possible and include a review of the range of allowances paid within BT Fleet.
Monteray
Motions relating to Monteray people to:
- campaign to gain full recognition,
- negotiate a national agreement that addresses the pay anomalies between regions and grades with the same skills,
- give sick pay to all grades immediately when they go on sick leave,
- negotiate and campaign for a medical retirement with benefits policy to become part of the standard terms and conditions in the new organisation,
BT Group
A motion proposed by Merseyside & South West Lancs branch attempting to censure censure the T&FSE and National Officers for failing to abide by conference policy in respect of the B2 grading advancement to C1 was lost.
However, a motion was carried to negotiate at the next pay round with the fully inclusive and non-negotiable point that the NewGRID B2 upper band shall have a further pay increment set at 50% of the difference between the NewGRID B2 and C1 grades as the new upper pay band progression point.
Flexible Working and Hours
Conference carried motions instructing the T&FSE to:
- identify breaches of the Flexible Working Hours Agreement (FWH) and restoring the agreement where it has been unreasonably removed and opposing any further breaches in the FWH agreement,
- negotiate with BT Group of companies, that non worked weekend or weekdays are not included in sick absence history details, only actual rostered work days,
- continue their work in trying to achieve improvements in the ability of members employed by Openreach to book and take annual leave at times reasonably best suited to their personal circumstances,
- to conclude an agreement on garaging and parking at home in BT.
Resourcing
Conference carried a wide-ranging motion to obtain from BT an accurate and detailed account of the number of jobs, within each workstream, within each division of the Company, that are sourced outside of the UK as a basis of negotiating a Company-wide holistic resourcing principles agreement. The principles of such an agreement should be;-
- Long term work undertaken to serve the UK customer base should be primarily sourced within the UK.
- All work assessed within the C and D skill bands should be retained within BT within the UK.
- Before any work is transferred offshore it must be made available to CWU members who do not have suitable work within their restricted ability.
- Before any work is outsourced there will be consultation with the CWU providing detailed business reasons for such proposals.
- Prior to any work being outsourced any staff undertaking such work in the UK will first have an alternative specific role and job identified for them.
- There will be national quarterly review meetings between BT and CWU to review the numbers of jobs outsourced.
- A commitment from BT to maximise long term employment opportunities within the UK by retaining the knowledge and skill base within the communities in which BT serves its customers.
Thursday 12 June 2008
Globalisation and Outsourcing
The T&FS Executive (T&FSE) accepted a number of motions (so they did not require a vote) concerning outsourcing of work and protecting the interests of members and made a commitment to resist any move towards compulsory redundancies in BT.
Health and Safety
All nine motions on the agenda regarding health and safety were accepted or carried by conference. These included criticism of the BT Occupational Health Service (OHS) sub-standard interview practices and reports of abrupt questioning; verbal harassment and most worrying, telephone interview referrals without the member attending an OHS surgery. Conference instructed the Executive to negotiate with BT Group, a "fit-for-purpose"' medical assessment that caters for individual medical conditions.
Pay, Terms and Conditions
The T&FSE accepted a motion to consult with branches and members before agreeing any BT pay deal for 2009, but a motion for a "flat rate pay" increase to close the disproportionate gap between NewGrid "A" and "B" grade pay rates compared to the C3 and D1 grades, was lost. The T&FSE accepted a motion to ensure that all verbal or written claims made by O2 are fully honoured, as many people have joined O2 having been given manifestly false promises about their pay and shift arrangements.
Engineering Constituency Conference
Conference carried or accepted all but one of the six motions to the Engineering Constituency Conference, including instructing the Executive to make immediate representation to BT/Openreach concerning the number of 10 point failures that are being automatically treated as part of a serious discipline procedure.
Clerical Constituency Conference
Among the many motions to the Clerical Constituency Conference one attempted to deal with the confusion and inconvenience caused by the Vacation Planner System in BT Retail, that Central & West Lancs Branch claimed is not fit for purpose. Another motion carried covered problems with management style concerning BT Retail Clerical members in Customer Service, Business Sales, Business Repair and Consumer Sales. Conference also carried a motion to discuss with BT Retail Consumer Sales to ensure that bonus reporting systems are improved and accurately reflect and reward the sales made by members.
Friday 13 June 2008
Discipline
Many motions concerned problems with the way BT is conducting discipline investigations. This included Conference calling on the T&FSE to seek an urgent meeting with BT to call on them to cease arbitrary and unfair actions where BT penalises genuinely sick members by stopping or reducing their annual increments, even though management agree that the persons sick absence is genuine. Motions were also carried or accepted on issues including inconsistent outcomes regarding issues of third party Internet abuse and growing concern that BT management is being led to decisions on discipline and grievance cases by Accenture HR with little or no regard to individual circumstance or mitigation.
Performance Reviews
Conference carried a motion to enter into discussions with the BT to protect members from the abuse of the APR procedure by the use of forced distributions and levelling exercises. The T&FSE accepted to negotiate with BT so that Performance Management proposals do not lead to members being dismissed when their performance is "satisfactory".
Pensions
Several motions were concerned with maintaining or re-instating pension rights, in particluar concerning the BT Pension Scheme (BTPS). A motion proposed by the T&FSE that agrees to resist any attempt by BT to change the pension enhancements on redundancy by all means possible was carried.
