WORKERS for telecoms giant BT sent a clear message to bosses today that they were willing to vote on strike action over the looming threat to their jobs.

A consultative ballot of members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) returned a 97 per cent decision in favour of moving to a formal vote on industrial action.

The union said more than 74 per cent of its 45,000 members across the BT Group took part in the consultation.

Deputy general secretary Andy Kerr said: “For a long time, BT Group has been claiming that our union does not speak for the employees and that people are happy with the direction of the company.

“This result shows how laughable those claims are and have always been. This moment should act as a reality check for management and it gives them one final chance to avoid a massive industrial dispute in 2021.

“Our members — many of them key workers — have made it crystal clear today that they will not support an agenda of compulsory redundancies, site closures and the race to the bottom on terms and conditions.

A BT spokesman said: “To adapt our business to meet the changing needs of our customers and remain competitive, BT is going through a period of immense change and investment to modernise for the future, including building faster, more reliable networks.

“Once complete, we will have a much simpler operating model with fewer people and we’ll be better able to serve our customers.

“For the most part, we will not fill roles as and when they become vacant and we will prioritise providing retraining and reskilling, learning and redeployment opportunities where we can.”

The CWU said that it would be seeking “an urgent meeting with BT to resolve this dispute and avoid disruption to the great service our members provide and customers receive.”