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BT Payphones - Street Rationalisation

11 March 2008

CWU Head Office has been advised of a further programme throughout 2008/09 of cuts in public payphones. Over 10,000 payphones will be removed against the background that over 35,000 public payphones do not make enough money to cover costs.

The programme is split in to two parts:

• 6,300 payphones will be removed, primarily in urban areas, where there is another payphone nearby. Unitary Authority consent is not required for these removals.
• Approximately 4,300 of the most unprofitable payphones will be removed. Unitary Authority consent is required for these removals.

The removal of these payphones will result in a headcount reduction of about 35 engineers, according to BT. The CWU has a number of concerns with this announcement, not least of which is the job cuts. We also believe there is a social necessity for many of the payphones but do recognise that perhaps BT should not have to bear the full costs. We also have a concern that, as job cuts are piled on job cuts, Payphones is getting perilously near to not being able to service even the profitable boxes.

The CWU will be holding urgent meetings with BT Payphones to discuss these developments.