CWU row over pay to bosses
PEOPLE are saying “enough’s enough” after bosses received increased payouts amid the cost of living crisis, Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward has said.
BT Group workers began voting on potential strike action over pay on Thursday and about 115,000 postal workers are expected to receive ballot papers tomorrow.
Ward said: “The background to this, as well as the cost-of-living crisis, is the reality that BT posted profits of £1.3billion last year, Royal Mail £758million.
“They paid shareholder dividends of £700million and £400million respectively, and I think what’s making workers more and more angry is that the CEO of BT, his pay has actually gone up by 32 per cent in the last year.
“In Royal Mail, the financial director apparently hit all their targets and got £1.5million and the CEO’s just received a bonus of £140,000.
“You know, people are saying, I think, enough’s enough.”
His comments come after a week that has seen strike action by the RMT union and an announcement from BA workers at Heathrow that they will also strike.
A BT Group spokesman said: “We awarded the highest pay rise we could for team members across BT Group. It’s our highest salary increase in more than 20 years”
A Royal Mail spokesman said: “We believe there are no grounds for industrial action.”