BT takes axe to 15,000 jobs

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 14 May 2009 at 09:28

BT will shed 15,000 jobs this year, representing 10% of its current workforce.

BT revealed that it had already shed 15,000 jobs over the past year, 5,000 more than previously announced.

The next 15,000 job cuts will come through natural wastage and voluntary redundancies, with BT claiming it has no plans for compulsory lay-offs.

The job cuts will come mostly in the UK and focus on the telecoms company's troubled Global Services unit, which handles the IT and network needs of large firms.

BT says it has taken a near £1.5 billion write down on the unit, which is currently being restructured at a cost of £420 million over the next two years.

"Three out of four of BT's lines of business have performed well in spite of fierce competition and the global economic downturn," says BT chief executive, Ian Livingston.

"However this achievement has been overshadowed by the unacceptable performance of BT Global Services and the resulting charges we have taken. During the year we have changed the leadership of BT Global Services and started to turn the division around."

Andy Kerr, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union, blamed the job losses on "damaging mismanagement".

"We expect the majority of job losses to be third party - contractors and agency staff - as they were last year with many jobs being lost outside of the UK. However this is a serious day for staff at BT," Kerr says.

"We're working closely with the company to ensure any losses are voluntary and we're looking at new ways of finding new work and retaining permanent employees, including secondment agreements."