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BT Pay 2007

12 January 2007

The T&FSE has considered a briefing on BT Pay and debated the issues at its meeting this week.

The T&FSE has decided that the appropriate claim to submit to BT should be for an increase of 7% on base pay and all allowances. However, before confirming the claim, members are invited to contact the branch office with their comments by 2 February 2007. All the comments will be collated and submitted to the T&FSE for the Executive to consider at its February meeting.

Key points considered by the CWU T&FSE

BT pay is normally reviewed annually - with the last award providing for a 2.9% rise 1 April 2006.

• The Treasury's latest comparison of independent forecasts indicates that economists expect GDP growth to run at around 2.4% on average over the course of 2007, down from 2.6% in 2006.
• Headline inflation (RPI) is currently at 3.7% and is expected to be running at 3.9% in March 2007 - the relevant date for the BT settlement.
• Industrial Relations Service (IRS) reports that median average pay settlements for the whole economy were 3.0% in the three months ending September 2006, with the upper quartile figure at 3.0%. The IRS expects higher headline inflation to exert upward pressure on pay settlements in the coming year.
• BT's latest second quarter results to September 30th 2006 reveal that, compared with the same period the previous year:
  
  Pre-tax profits rose 12% to £665 million
  Group revenue rose 4% to £4,941 million
  Net debt was reduced to £8,079m, 1% lower than the previous year
  BT Broadband end users increased by 66.7% to 9.3 million
  The interim share dividend increased to 5.1 pence, up 19%
  BT Retail operating profits rose by 9% to £167 million
  BT Wholesale operating profits fell by 4.4% to £370 million