BT faces backlash over restructuring

Bloomberg

BT Group Plc’s restructuring is starting to bite, with workers accusing the British telecom company of betrayal as it cuts thousands of jobs and sweeps away layers of management.
Chief Executive Officer Gavin Patterson began to overhaul the world’s oldest phone company in June, under pressure to revive profits and a moribund share price. The changes involve 13,000 layoffs and a new pay structure for the 100,000-strong workforce.
Sales at all of BT’s businesses except its consumer division are shrinking and the former monopoly has cut prices at its network unit after regulatory pressure to boost take-up of faster internet services.
“Compared to our competitors, we’re top heavy and over-managed,” BT said in a staff presentation on its internal website. “Getting things done day to day can feel like wading through treacle. We have to fix this, now.” Patterson was ousted by the board in June and will be replaced in February by WorldPay Inc CEO Philip Jansen.

STRIKE THREAT
The Prospect union accuses management of pushing through some of the changes before reaching labour agreements on pay and terms. This is causing a “perfect storm of stress and anxiety,” said the union in a recent letter to its members. The Communication Workers’ Union says mo-re than 1,700 facilities-mana- gement employees could lose job security and benefits in an outsourcing drive.
“We will be using all means at our disposal, up to and including industrial action, to make sure that BT and the contractors do the right thing by our members,” said union officer Sally Bridge.Together, Prospect and the Communication Workers’ Union represent around two-thirds of BT’s workforce.
BT said its decision to transfer the workers to facilities companies CBRE Group Inc and ISS A/S will help it make the most of their skills and improve service delivery. The company will work with affected staff to “ensure a smooth transition,” a spokeswoman said by email.
The changes cut across the entire group. BT is trying to integrate wireless business EE, acquired in 2016, merge three consumer brands into one division and cut low-value contr-acts at its IT and consulting arm Global Services, which is bearing about a third of the job cuts.