BT Sectional Conference – Monday

Today at Conference…

Business debated and passed by Conference was as follows:

Prop 1 – Case handling (BT Wessex)

Prop 2 – Openreach Transformation Programme (BT Openreach IRC)

Prop 3 – Promotion (BT Development Belfast)

Prop 4 – 2008-2009 Bonus payment withdrawal (BT Retail IRC)

Prop 5 – Sales bonus (Sales Network)

Prop 6 – Use of contractors and consultants (BT Global Services IRC)

Prop 7 – Sensible headcount reductions (BT Leicester)

Prop 14 – Mediation (BT Leicester)

Prop 15 – Grievance (BT Wessex)

Prop 17 – Facility time – adjustment (BT Leicester)

Conference also elected a new BT Committee to take office at the close of the Conference.

Conference gag of the day: Speaking to Prop 5 on sales bonuses, Mike Cassidy, BT Committee, pointed out that there was money to be made in BT – some were taking it away in a barrow. Or was it a Barrault?

Today was marked by a deal of unanimity within Conference about the issues on the agenda, with perhaps the most interesting debate being around facility time, with delegates fearing some of the implications of members being faced with significantly increased workloads as a result of the company’s approaches to management both in the day job and for Connect, with the only real area of disagreement on this issue being the means to achieving the aims around which both delegates and BT Committee alike were united.

One other theme is the sort of BT that the company is now apparently intent on building: a company that is embarking on the initiatives that marks its current approach to management is not one intent on re-building the staff morale that will definitively assist it in the recovery. A high-performance company is one ultimately geared around engaging the higher performance of its staff, not one that is intent on driving it to the bottom.