A growing number of CWU members have been in touch with head office expressing their serious concerns in relation to the Job Family process.

It should be noted that this is an important process that could have a profound impact on your career path within BT as well as your terms and conditions and as such you should pay it careful attention.  I would encourage to all staff to appeal any aspect of the process they are unhappy with as it appears that the company is assuming staff are happy with the changes unless an appeal is lodged before close of business this Friday, June 8th.

It has come to my attention that a number of staff have had their job titles changed without any prior consultation or discussion and that in many cases the communications around this important piece of change have been less than clear and often given to staff late in the day.

As I understand it, all staff should have been engaged by their local manager in a one to one discussion on their job family and what it means to them.  If this has not happened I would encourage you to establish why this is the case.

There are a number of points you should note in relation to this job family process and how it might affect you:

Job Title
In some cases job titles are changing.  You should be very clear about your job title as per your contract of employment as well as the duties and responsibilities attached to that role.  Where this might have changed over the years think about what your job title is now in conjunction with the work you currently do.  The key concern staff have raised is that their job title has been changed which means their duties and responsibilities might change along with their earnings potential.

Salary Ranges
Of serious concern to a lot of members is that fact that the company will not reveal salary scales attached to the job family staff are assigned to.  Knowing and understanding your salary scale is vital and not being given this information during this change process beggars belief.

Lack of clarity and understanding on this issue alone is enough for any staff member to appeal the process and I would encourage staff to pay careful attention to this aspect.

Equally, where your job title changes you should be clear ahout what, if any, implications this might have for your salary scale.  If your scale changes then so does your median and this will have a direct affect on your earnings potential.

Duties and Responsibilities
All staff should be very clear that their duties and responsibilities have not changed as a result of this process, particularly where there has been a change in your job title.  Any changes in this regard should be taken very seriously – your contract of employment cannot be changed without your consent.

As mentioned above I would encourage any staff member who has a concern with this process to raise an appeal immediately and preferably before Friday 8th June which has been put forward as a deadline for appeals.