British Telecom workers stage protest at company head office

national | worker & community struggles and protests | feature

Tuesday April 29, 2008 22:52

by A Workers' Strand Two

Disconnect Discrimination!

British Telecom is refusing to give collective bargaining rights to a large group of its staff simply because they are Irish. On Tuesday April 22nd a large group of BT Ireland staff, with support from other CWU members, held a public protest at the corporate head office for British Telecom in Dublin.

The company, which runs its business on a 32-county basis, deals with the CWU in Northern Ireland and staff there enjoy the benefits of independent collective representation. In recent years staff in the Republic have sought equal treatment with their colleagues elsewhere in the business and, through the CWU and internal company mechanisms, they have asked to be given the same right to collective bargaining as their colleagues.

To date the company has refused to honour this legitimate request and in doing so is not only denying staff a basic human right but is doing so on the basis that they are Irish.

Related Links: Labourstart Campaign CWU Announcement

BT staff felt the company’s position on this issue was completely unacceptable as it was effectively a form of discrimination. Members wanted to highlight their cause as part of a campaign to try and get management to engage in meaningful dialogue with their Union.

Commenting on the protest the CWU’s Head of Organising, Ian McArdle said ‘The facts in this issue are simple – staff want equal treatment and the right to union representation which their colleagues in the North enjoy. They do not want to be treated like second class citizens simply because they are Irish.’

As part of the campaign the CWU has rented billboard advertisements around Dublin city centre as well as a number of ad mobiles that will be active over the coming weeks with the message – ‘Disconnect Discrimination’.

In addition to this the Union is running an email campaign which can be accessed from

http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-bin/solidarityforever/sh...c=367

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Comments (2 of 2)

The Irish Government has sold us out to this

by shoegirl

Wed Apr 30, 2008 13:05

shoegirl at gmail dot com

By being one of the few, if any remaining countries, in Europe to block any legal entitlement to collectivised bargaining agreements and 3rd party worker representation, the Irish government has gifted us this. BT are not obliged by law, even if every single employee in Ireland votes to join a unionised organisation, to recognise them. Almost every other company in Europe, including the UK, and even some parts of the US, has laws forcing companies to recognise collective bargaining if a mjority of workers ask for it.

Ireland does not.

And Ireland continues to try to block temporary worker directives that deny temporary workers equal rights with permanent employees.

And ireland also has continued to uphold a work permit system for non-EU employees that is nothing short of a form of bonded servitude, as the work permit is granted to the employer to employ that worker, the worker has no general right to work in the country except in that job and for that employer. Changes to this are still minimal. Yet Irish people go to the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia with full migrant visas that entitle them to be there in their own right, and not simply as an employee of a particular employer.

BT's trickle down attitude.

by Jimbob

Wed Apr 30, 2008 10:12

They don't care about customers, and they don't care about staff either.
They're raking in the money, and willing to splash out on billboards with giant passports saying welcome to BT 8 MB territory, when in fact their service is rubbish.

When I rang up to complain about the service I got, I waited 2 hours for an answer, and eventually a staff member explained that there were only 10 people on duty in the call centre. So, the company is saving money, and the customer is annoyed and the overworked staff stuck on an endless queue of calls.

I switched to another company. They might be more expensive, but the thing works, and when I ring up, I get through straight away.

If you don't look after your staff and your customers, you will lose them to your rivals.

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British Telecom workers stage protest at company head office

Comments (2 of 2)