Issues
Your Issues
You can share your views with Chic and ask him questions on the Contact Chic page.
Openreach Second SDT Ballot
The challenges the union faced would not have disappeared if there had been a "no" vote. Saying "no" would have put thousands of jobs at risk.
The plans to sell off Complex activity from Openreach were real and imminent. The terms and conditions for those jobs sold off would have been under immediate attack. Equally those left behind in Volume activity would have been denied access to work providing NGA, making redundancy a real threat. Simply saying No would have pre-empted the imposition of more draconian changes in attendance patterns by executive action. That would have resulted in inevitable industrial action.
Industrial action has its place but we have to understand the consequences of "winning". In the case of SDT, “winning” would have put 13,000 jobs at risk in the interest of maintaining overtime. Blocking changes to pensions would have seen the final salary scheme close and those in the BTRP denied an increase in pension benefits which has been union policy for a number of years.
Performance Management and Management Style
Performance Management
We must oppose bullying and harassment dressed up as performance management.
In BT Retail, Openreach and Operate performance management is a major issue. Within the branch we have seen an enormous rise in pre formal / BAU coaching plans, Managing Uunder Performance and some members moving to formal Performance Imorpvement Plans.
We must separate performance management from management style.
My view is that we need to educate both management and our members in regard to what performance management should look like and commit to work towards fair agreements and ensuring that company adheres to the processes and principles contained within those. It is only by gaining an understanding that you can build confidence in any system, that will in turn allow our members to challenge when appropriate and take learning where that is appropriate.
Management Style
The CWU has already raised concerns and this issue has been placed high on the project Holborn Agenda.
All to often Senior Managers advocate fair and equitable policy’s and far to often we see them being misinterpreted and poorly delivered. The reality is that some managers cannot divorce performance management from discipline. Instead of coaching and supportive measures they revert to a language of negativity and threats.
We must challenge this at the highest level.