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BT to axe 30,000 jobs by 2010
14 May 2009
BT today said that it will have axed 30,000 jobs by the end of the coming year. The number is far higher than the 20,000 that industry experts had expected.
The telecoms giant said that is has already cut 15,000 posts since last spring — 5,000 more than it had predicted as recently as November. Now it wants the same number again to go by the end of March next year.
That means that within two years the workforce will have been slashed from just over 160,000 to 130,000 — about one in five of its workers.
Chief executive Ian Livingston said: “Obviously we regret having to do this but these are very tough times and that requires tough actions. I am determined that BT emerges from this recession as a stronger company not just for its shareholders but in order to protect as many permanent staff as possible.”
Mr Livingston said that out of last year's job cuts 5,000 had been among the company's full-time staff and the other 10,000 had been agency or contract staff not employed directly by BT. He said it was impossible to predict how the next 15,000 job losses would split between permanent and contract staff.
But he added: “We don't think that we will be looking for compulsory redundancies. We will also try to retrain people and find them jobs elsewhere in the business. We did that for 2,000 people last year.”
Mr Livingston also said that he plans to double the rate at which BT rolls out its new fibre network which will deliver super-fast broadband to more than million homes by the end of the year.
That should help save about 1,000 posts which could otherwise have been under threat. The news came in the week when total UK unemployment rose to 2.2 million after another 250,000 workers lost their jobs in the first three months of this year.
Earlier this week insurance giant Legal & General announced that it will cut a further 560 jobs and Coronation Street broadcaster ITV today refused to rule out further job cuts on top of the 1600 it has already announced as it seeks to save a further £40 million in costs.
Reader views (3)
Nope! If the past is anything to go by they'll all be back at their desks the following Monday but as employees of their own service companies.
- Mark, South-East London, 14/05/2009 10:14
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and according to Gordon Moron and labour, those 30,000 unemployed will only count as 2500 in 'official' figures !
- Joanna, london, 14/05/2009 10:07
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Another 30,000 jobs on offer in India then!
- Napoleon Blownaparte, London, 14/05/2009 09:43
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