BT Openreach engineers in the Communication Workers Union (CWU) struck again on 3-5 March, with further strikes planned on 18-20 and 22-25 March.
And on 11 March, the CWU announced it would move to a wider formal industrial-action ballot in "every part of BT, Openreach and EE where the CWU is recognised for collective bargaining purposes". CWU members in that wider area have already voted overwhelmingly for action in an indicative ballot.
The Openreach strikes, which involve a workforce of 170 Repayments Project Engineers (RPEs), working to move or protect BT cabling during construction works, seek to resist the imposition of a new grading structure. The plan would move the RPE role into a management grade, taking it out of the CWU-organised shopfloor workforce, but also leading to potential cuts to pay and holiday entitlement by placing it on the lowest rung of the managerial grade structure.
