Strike ballot for thousands of BT staff in pay clash

The Communication Workers Union said its 50,000 members would vote on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action after yesterday's 12 noon deadline passed.

The union decided at its annual conference last week to give BT until yesterday to make a better offer or face the threat of the first strike for more than 20 years.

Deputy general secretary Andy Kerr complained of "blatant double standards" after BT announced big bonuses for its executives, including 1.2m for chief executive Ian Livingston.

Mr Kerr said: "We're obviously very disappointed that BT has not improved its pay offer of two per cent despite their healthy profits this year.

"We now have no option than to put the wheels in motion to ballot all appropriate members in BT for strike action, which would be the first action of its kind in over 20 years.

"We've made our position very clear – two per cent is not good enough when the company is making profits of over 1bn, paying shareholders a six per cent dividend and paying out large sums to senior executives while inflation is at 5.3 per cent.

"Our members are angry about the blatant double standards when it comes to pay for those at the top compared to the rest of staff at the company. We're not asking for the earth, we're asking for a fair and affordable share of BT's success. If it's good enough for the executives it's good enough for the staff.

"We remain open to discussions with BT at any time, but only a revised pay offer will bring this dispute to an end."

Details of the timetable for the ballot will be announced by the CWU next week.

The union pointed out that BT made profits of more than 1bn profit

last year while making 1.75bn in cost savings, partly delivered through a pay freeze, 30,000 redundancies and changes to pension schemes which CWU helped the company with.

The CWU rejected an offer it said was worth two per cent on pay, plus 250 and a possible additional 250 based on meeting undisclosed targets next year.

BT said: "It is in no one's interest for industrial action to take place. Our final offer is fair, realistic and more generous than those they have accepted elsewhere."

Sky buys virgin tv channels

Satellite broadcaster BSkyB yesterday acquired television channels Living and Bravo as part of a 160m deal with rival Virgin Media.

The purchase of Virgin Media Television (VMtv) also involves Challenge, Challenge Jackpot and Virgin. As well as expanding its range of basic pay TV channels, Sky said the deal eliminated the carriage fees it currently pays for distributing Virgin channels on its platform. Virgin Media said the deal would allow it to offer its cable customers an enhanced range of Sky services.