No workers forced out, says BT boss

Nov 14 2008 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

THE head of BT has promised to avoid compulsory redundancies as he considers cutting thousands of jobs. The company’s 4,500 North East staff turned up for work yesterday to be told the telecommunications giant was planning to slash its staffing costs.

Bosses at BT want to see the workforce reduced by 10,000 by March next year with 4,000 of those positions already gone.

Staff have been told the company aims to reduce the workforce by freezing recruitment and should be able to prevent compulsory redundancies.

The company has so far been unable to say how many voluntary redundancies will be needed, and will be meeting with union leaders next week to discuss the next stage in the shake-up.

BT employs around 1,000 at Gosforth Business Park in Longbenton, Newcastle, as well as 320 at its headquarters, in Bridge Court, on the city’s Quayside.

Ian Livingston, BT’s chief executive, said 7,000 workers left the firm every year so he did not envisage any compulsory redundancies in the latest round of cuts, which will affect head office functions, support staff and customer services.

He said: “What we’re trying to do is where we don’t need people in certain parts of our business, we will retrain them and redeploy them and try to protect our permanent workforce.

“We think this is the important thing to do, the responsible thing to do and we have no plans for compulsory redundancies.”

The Communication Workers Union (CWU) last night said it would be meeting with senior management to ensure BT keeps its promise.

Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary, added: “Ten thousand jobs is a huge number and it will be difficult for BT to shed that amount in one year.

“We’ll be holding BT to their statement that there will be no compulsion to meet these cuts. The CWU will oppose any compulsory redundancies by whatever means necessary.”

Any redundancies will mainly affect BT’s indirect labour force including agency workers, contractors and offshore staff, including those based in India.