Emergency service disruption warning with 999 handlers due to walk out​​​​​​​

Members of the Communication Workers’ Union – the union for BT Group workers – will be walking out on Thursday, October 6, with further strikes planned for Monday, October 10, Thursday, October 20 and Monday, October 24.

These strikes include 30,000 Openreach engineers and 10,000 BT call centre workers who have taken action in previous months in opposition to BT Group management’s offer of a flat rate pay rise of £1,500.

Tomorrow over 500 operators in 999 call centres across the United Kingdom will be walking out.

In previous strikes, it was agreed between the union and the company that these workers would be exempt from the strike, and that a certain number of workers would be available to work at any given time.

However, citing a lack of progress on pay talks, CWU General Secretary Dave Ward said: “This decision was not taken lightly, but our union’s repeated attempts to initiate discussions was declined by a management.”

He added: “999 operators are using foodbanks, they’re worried about the cost of living and are being stretched to the limit.”

CWU Deputy General Secretary Andy Kerry vowed that the union’s members will ‘fight hard to get the proper pay rise they deserve.”

The union says that in the context of RPI inflation levels already hitting 11.7% this year, this is a dramatic real-terms pay cut.