BT and Openreach workers are on the second day of their 24 hour strike over pay. Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action over a pay dispute. Over 40,000 BT group workers have held the two-day 24 hour strike across the North and in Britain.  

This is the first strike action at BT Group since 1987 and the first national call-centre workers' strike.

According to the union, 95.8 per cent of Openreach engineers voted for action and members within BT had a 91.5 per cent majority for the walkout. The strike focuses on BT imposing a pay settlement on employees for £1,500 per annum. 

The Union has stated that this is a ‘‘dramatic real-terms pay cut when compared to inflation levels of over 11 per cent.’’

The employees on strike form the majority of the telecommunications infrastructure including mobile phone connection, broadband internet, and back-up generators to national health systems, cyber security and data centres.

We spoke with union members Patrick Meehan and Raymond McDonnell who were on the picket line up in The Cutts in Dunmurry today.  

Patrick Meehan who was a marshal on the picket line said: ‘‘There’s a great atmosphere, people are bringing dogs down, there’s BBQ’s. The strike is very solid, very few have passed the picket line.

‘‘The dispute is over pay, with the cost of living increasing there is a particular focus on those on the lower pay grade, it is very important that everyone gets a decent pay rise due to the cost of renting and energy bills. BT imposed a £1,500 pay offer but we need a pay rise that will reflect the rising cost of living.’’

The CWU’s Branch Manager and Regional Secretary attended picket lines across the North over the past two days in solidarity with its members. 

Regional Secretary Erin Massey attended events in Belfast and Newry on Monday and Portadown on Friday and has described the atmosphere at the strikes as ‘‘very uplifting to see how much support we have and to see how many people are out at the picket line".

‘‘We didn’t want our members out on strike, not with the way the cost of living is going, but it was because of the cost of living that we had to strike.’’

‘‘The cost of living is impacting everybody, not just out members. There are BT workers who are our members that rely on foodbanks. It’s shameful.

BT workers on the picket line
2Gallery

BT workers on the picket line

‘‘BT understand that some of their staff are struggling to put food on the table that is why they have introduced food pantries or community pantries as they are known, but they won’t give their workers a pay rise.’

‘‘It’s a corporate foodbank which has sporadically begun to appear over the past couple of weeks. How can they recognise that, why not just pay the people?

‘‘We want BT around the table. We will still take that, the ball is in their court.’’

Politicians across various political parties have also shown solidarity with the workers. 
Sinn Féin’s Danny Baker MLA, People Before Profit’s Gerry Carroll MLA and leader of the DUP Jeffrey Donaldson were all in attendance at picket lines across Belfast. The SDLP’s Claire Hanna MP also sent a solidarity email expressing her support and Sinn Féin’s Paul Maskey was present at Friday’s picket.

Sinn Féin’s Danny Baker posted ‘‘Standing today in solidarity with striking BT/Openreach workers. While BT increase their profits and reward themselves with ridiculous bonuses their workers are struggling! They deserve fair pay now!’’