Big thumbs-up to Team Based Scheduling agreement in BT Consumer 

Telecoms & Financial Services, BT, Call Centres February 20 2020

Members across BT Consumer have overwhelmingly backed a major new deal on Team Based Scheduling which is designed to secure the meaningful improvements to attendance options that customer-facing staff have been craving for years.

In a consultative ballot, which closed yesterday, 74% of those participating voted in favour of a new approach to attendances which deliver long-term predictability of shift patterns and days off, as well as bringing in new options such as flexitime.

The ballot had been triggered by a pre-Christmas breakthrough in talks that had been given added impetus by the strength of feeling expressed on the issue by delegates at last year’s CWU Annual Conference.

Now ratified by members, the agreement paves the way for major changes to attendances in Consumer over the next few months.

CWU national officer for members in Consumer, Nigel Cotgrove, explains: “The new attendances crucially provide long term predictability of attendances and days off – something members have consistently told us is their number one priority.

“The agreement also maximises full weekends off, brings in new flexitime options and allows more choice over when to take breaks. At the same time there are continued protections for those who cannot work standard patterns for personal and domestic reasons, as well as protection for Sunday earnings.

“We understand how important attendance patterns are to everyone and we will be working to ensure the Agreement is implemented in a fair and transparent manner.”

Thanking members for backing the deal – which had been strongly recommended for acceptance by the union’s Executive – Nigel concludes:  “For the last three years the CWU has consistently argued the case that current arrangements are not good enough due to the lack of predictability of attendances, variable start times and a poor work-life balance.

“This new agreement addresses just those issues and, in so doing, extensively overhauls and improves on the existing 2015 arrangements.”