Clive Walder, retired CWU member
BT workers will be glad to see the back of the Tories, and many will be hoping for some change.
BT workers have had to endure bullying management, attempts to manage people out of the business using performance and sick leave, contractors doing work that should be done by direct labour, and many other attacks. Despite BT management realising the hard way through the strike in 2022 that CWU members will fight back, they are still hellbent on making BT a ‘leaner’ company.
In May 2023, BT announced that up to 55,000 jobs would go worldwide, a quarter of the workforce. They say this is due to new technology, with an expectation that 10,000 of our jobs will be replaced by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
New technology should be used to reduce the working week, to share out the work, create jobs and allow workers more time to pursue personal hobbies and interests. Instead, under capitalism, new technology will be used to cut the workforce and increase profits and dividends – unless we fight back.
The union has so far stayed silent about this threat. The general secretary, Dave Ward, sent a letter to all members the week of the general election urging members to vote Labour. It is CWU policy to nationalise the entire telecoms industry, but the union leaders have failed to ask the new Labour government to carry this policy out.
It is clear that in order to protect our members in BT we will need to campaign within the union for a fighting strategy. We also need to argue for unions to take steps to establish a new workers’ party that would champion policies in the interests of our members. Dave Ward, alongside Mick Lynch of the RMT rail union, launched Enough is Enough in 2022. Half a million people signed up, many hoping for a new party. That was a lost opportunity and the lesson must be learned by our union.
