Justice for Agency Workers
Power-Up for Agency Pay Campaign
15 August 2008
The "Power-Up for Agency Pay" campaign was launched at the 2008 CWU Annual Conference in Liverpool. The Power-Up campaign seeks an instant pay rise for the Manpower and Kelly employees who work alongside, and do exactly the same work as, directly employed BT staff – but who are paid at a lower rate, have far inferior terms and conditions and don’t even qualify for an annual pay review.
- Win an IPOD Competition
- Agency Pay Protest at BT AGM
One of the initiatives discussed at the Power-Up for Agency Pay Forum was to have a campaign ‘rap’ that would be the agency anthem for when we are on demonstrations.
CWU members and agency workers from across the country demonstrated outside BT's Annual General Meeting to highlight problems faced by the two-tier workforce.
Power-Up for Agency Pay Forum
The Power-Up for Agency Pay forum was held at CWU headquarters on 13 August 2008, led by Davie Bowman (CWU President) and Sally Bridge (CWU Assistant Secretary).
Sally confirmed that a meeting with BT was being sought, and the priority was to agree on a national pay rate and a mechanism for future pay increases for all agency staff. It was agreed that if BT use delaying tactics, the campaign team will continue to roll out the Power-Up for Agency Pay campaign, which will include the use of all media available.
It was agreed for the need to improve the communications between head office, Branches and agency members, to:
- keep the agency web pages updated,
- produce articles for the CWU Voice magazine,
- produce regular newsletters aimed specifically at members.
It is also the intention of the campaign team to arrange bespoke basic training for agency staff in 2008/09 where necessary and to review training on a regular basis.
The campaign team will continue to engage Manpower and Kelly Services in meaningful negotiations to review and improve member’s terms and conditions, to:
- review notice periods within disciplinary procedures,
- improve sick absence / attendance procedures,
- record all disciplinary hearings – to agreed process,
- represent a special leave policy.
Updates on Facebook
The campaign team have registered a web page on www.facebook.com to keep all BT and agency staff up to date of pending issues and progress of the Power-Up for Agency Pay Campaign.
How do agency folk feel about BT?
BT has invited all agency staff to click onto BT Today, and then onto "YOUR VIEW" and the "Tell Us What You Think" link at the end of the article, if you would like to share your views and experiences.