Communications company BT says the United Kingdom's price cap on energy bills will allow it to provide financial assistance to employees affected by rising inflation. This is a bolt from the blue by the CEO, who previously had a different opinion.
BT CEO Changes Stance on Staff Support
As first reported by Bloomberg, CEO Philip Jansen stated during a company staff video conference that these actions can now be taken as a result of the recently passed Energy Bill Relief Scheme.
The above-said scheme, which went into effect in September, will reduce energy bills for non-domestic customers in the United Kingdom. Additionally, it emphasizes that initial discounts will be given for energy used between Oct. 1 (of this year) and March 31, 2023.
It is also important to note that almost 1% of the power produced in the United Kingdom is used by the former telecom monopoly under government control. The company is now planning extra staff support as the UK scheme is said to provide them with enough leeway.
"Now that we know that the energy costs are capped at £200 million ($235 million) until [the] end of March-I didn't know that in April-I know we will do something," the CEO told employees in the recent all-staff video call.
"It will be targeted at those who need it the most," the CEO added.
Back in June, Jansen had a different stance on the matter when he mentioned that factors like soaring energy bills due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other expenses meant that BT could not afford to add extra staff support.
Continued Dialogues and Strikes
Since March, when a one-time pay award of £1,200 for 58,000 frontline employees was rejected, BT and the Communication and Workers Union have been engaged in fractious negotiations. Then, in April, BT paid employees £1,500 without first consulting the union.
Bloomberg says that the union demanded more because UK inflation rose above 10%. Since then, workers at BT have staged eight strikes, the first nationwide walkouts the company has experienced since 1987. Last month, the strikes expanded to include BT's "999" call handlers for emergency services.
The strikes, which involve 26,000 BT Group engineers and call center workers, are having an impact on BT, with 40,000 broadband connections impacted in BT's third-quarter says The Register.
The CWU wrote to BT members last week to confirm pay talks had resumed and on Nov. 9, said they were still currently underway. "Right now there is no formal offer from BT but we are expecting them to put forward a proposal tomorrow."
About the Energy Bill Relief Scheme
The government will offer eligible parties a discount on gas and electricity unit prices under the scheme. To calculate the discount, the estimated wholesale portion of the unit price paid by eligible organizations this winter will be compared to a baseline ' government-supported price' that is lower than currently expected wholesale prices this winter.
