Thousands of BT Group PLC (LON:BT:A) staff are to be balloted on strike action over plans that might see many of the telecoms group's sites close.
BT’s largest union The Communication Workers Union said it will ballot its 45,000 members in the coming weeks and, If passed, it might see the telecoms group first national strike since 1987.
Andy Kerr, the CWU’s deputy general secretary, said: “We want to assure businesses and the public that we do not want to see disruptions to services.
“This action is about protecting our members but also it is about protecting the service they provide to homes and businesses.
“My message to BT Group is that our door is still open, and we want to resolve this dispute, but this will require a huge shift in attitude from the company.”
BT has played a key role in enabling people to work from home during the pandemic, but the business plus mobile arm EE and broadband network Openreach will all be affected if strike action leads to walkouts in late spring
The CWU said BT wants to concentrate the majority of its operations at 30 key locations and shut hundreds of other locations.
BT is already under heavy scrutiny about the speed of its upgrade of the Openreach network to superfast speeds, while financially it is struggling under heavy debts, a pension fund liability and juggling the demands of shareholders who saw the dividend cut last year.
Jan Du Plessis, chairman, recently announced his intention to retire with the company not denying reports that it was at the instigation of chief executive Philip Jansen who feels the telco is not changing fast enough.
Jansen is said to see5G and fibre broadband as the future, with the sale of a stake in Openreach possible to a private equity group seen as a way to get the necessary funding.
Shares in BT rose 1.6% to 139.5p.