Telecoms & Financial Services Conference: Day one round-up
Telecoms & Financial Services April 24 2018The CWU’s 2018 Telecoms & Financial Services (T&FS) Conference opened this morning in Bournemouth, with several hundred delegates from across the country gathering at the Bournemouth International Centre to discuss developments across the sector and to make the policy decisions that will set the T&FS Executive’s negotiating agenda for the coming year.
Proceedings began with deputy general secretary Andy Kerr giving his annual ‘state of the union’ speech covering developments in the businesses where the union has members – but also touching on the wider challenges thrown up by wider economic developments – notably the looming spectre of Brexit and the increasing use of insecure and exploitative employment models.
Despite the recent publication of Government figured showing record employment levels in the UK, Andy pointed to the fact that nearly one million people are now employed on zero-hour contracts – arguing that now, more than ever, workers need trade unions to protect their interests in the face of the rampant growth of the so-called ‘gig economy’.
The increasing prevalence of exploitative agency employment models was later explored in a lunchtime fringe meeting updating delegates on the progress to date of the union’s high profile‘Close the Gap’ campaign against the legal loophole that allows agency workers on so-called ‘Pay Between Assignment ‘ contracts to be paid considerably less than directly employed workers carrying out identical jobs.
Speaking at the event, CWU general secretary Dave Ward urged the maximum possible attendance at the forthcoming national TUC demonstration for a New Deal for Workers that the CWU has been instrumental in organising – insisted that only a determined fight back will prevent the further spread of exploitative employment models in modern Britain.
T&FS Conference itself, however, opened with a slew of motions covering a wide range of concerns tabled by branches with members in Capita.
Delegates unanimously carried motions urging the union to seek to address negative disparities in pay and reward arrangements, bank holiday policies and collective bargaining rights for members on new Capita contracts as opposed to those TUPE’d into the company. Also discussed were problems with the company’s absence policy and annual leave arrangements, concerns over the pension scheme which have been heightened by the company’s widely reported financial difficulties and hurdles being placed in the way of the CWU gaining access to new starter training groups.
Next up was Telefonica – with delegates expressing particular concern at the company’s continuing policy of outsourcing of work (and employees) to third party suppliers, notably Capita, despite concerns about its financial stability.
Delegates also discussed the issue of attendance patterns in BT Consumer contact centres –unanimously instructing the Executive to continue pursuing improvements demanded by last year’s Conference that have not yet materialised.
Conference also vented its anger over Openreach’s consistent failure to keep to the terms of the Service Delivery Transformation Agreement which stipulates Service Delivery engineers should not be required to work more than 12 Saturdays a year in normal circumstances – with speakers citing instances where individuals were routinely being required to work many more than that.
The final debate of the morning session instructed the Executive to work with BT Consumer to provide better part-time and full-time shift options for women returning from maternity leave or for people who are primary or sole carers.
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The biggest debate of the afternoon saw Conference unanimously back a TFS Executive motion committing the union to urgently ‘reset’ the resourcing position in Openreach – tackling slippage in collective agreements and ensuring that UK direct labour resource is maximised. Delegates agreed it is Openreach adheres to agreements that release schemes should not be used to deal with potential ‘surplus’ situations whilst third party resource is in place – and that globally sourced work (especially higher graded work) is returned in-house.
Delegates also unanimously backed a Lincs & South Yorks branch motion slamming the handling of recent agency conversions by BT Business & Public Sector – and went on to express Conference’s dismay at Openreach’s failure to recruit sufficient black and minority ethnic (BAME) individuals to reflect the communities it serves.
One of the most heated debates of the afternoon, however, lambasted BT’s “often draconian and controlling attitudes towards social media, extending and applying its social media policy into the private lives of employees.”
Speaking in support of the Links and South Yorks motion – which was carried unanimously, one speaker observed: “Didn’t BT used to say ‘it’s good to talk’?” adding that it now appeared that only applied “if they agree with what you are saying!”