Delay of disputed BT Fleet sale ‘speaks volumes’, says CWU

BT Fleet

Responding to this afternoon’s announcement by BT that the separation of the company’s Fleet Solutions division will not now take place until October 1, the CWU has expressed its dismay at BT’s apparent lack of preparedness over the practicalities of a sell-off that the CWU believes should not be happening at all.

Despite vigorously opposing the entire pretext of the sell-off, both before and after persistent rumours of the division’s divestment were confirmed at the start of the month, the CWU has focused heavily on securing practical safeguards for members – conscious of the fact that the sale, with its original exceptionally tight timeframe, was effectively unstoppable.

It was only on Wednesday this week – just 10 days before the transaction was originally scheduled to complete – that the successful conclusion of talks with the company allowed the CWU to inform members across BT Fleet that crucial safeguards had been secured by the union to ensure they will not be negatively impacted by the division’s sale to Aurelius. (See ‘Crucial safeguards secured in dispute fleet sale’ story here)

Yet, just three days on from a major joint-communication exercise, the CWU – which had always warned the transfer timetable was challenging in the extreme – has been informed by BT that complications in the separation of various systems means the separation of Fleet Solutions from BT Group simply cannot happen to schedule.

CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said: “Although in one sense this comes as little surprise to the CWU, the fact that delay has been announced just days after BT’s most recent insistence that the transfer would be done and dusted by September 1 speaks volumes about a headlong rush to complete a sell-off that the CWU believes represents a needless abandonment of hundreds of loyal team member employees.

“Although we do now at least have the vital reassurances that members need on their future employment and Ts&Cs with Aurelius going forward, the CWU remains convinced that this sale of a profitable division is wrong in principle and could have been avoided if other ways of funding Fleet’s future investment needs had been properly explored.”