COMMUNICATIONS union CWU responded bullishly to reports today that BT is preparing to announce plans to cut more than 6,000 jobs worldwide.

The telecoms giant is to announce major job cuts next week as part of a new corporate strategy to revive its ailing financial position, according to the Financial Times.

Following last May’s announcement that 4,000 jobs were being cut worldwide, the FT said that analysts had estimated a further 6,600 jobs would be cut in response to BT financial difficulties and the fallout from an accounting scandal in Italy.

The job cuts, expected to focus on managerial and back office workers, are estimated to eventually save BT around £500 million from its annual £4.7 billion wage bill.

BT chief executive Gavin Patterson is expected to announce the 6 per cent cut in the company’s global workforce when its annual results are announced next Thursday.

But CWU deputy general secretary for telecoms Andy Kerr was upbeat about the future for CWU members, declaring he was “confident any job losses will have little impact on CWU-represented grades.”

Mr Kerr added that the CWU “welcome BT plans to invest and grow in the frontline areas in which our members are mainly employed.”

He said that the recent CWU success in negotiating a hybrid pensions scheme for its members with BT and the company’s plan to invest in engineering pointed towards a bright future for unionised workers.

Mr Kerr said: “The CWU have recently secured a victory in the recent pension discussions with BT, as the talks culminated in a hybrid scheme, providing part defined benefit and part defined contribution for our members, lessening future risk for employees.

“The CWU continually hold discussions with the company over staffing levels for our represented grades, in particular within customer service and frontline engineering.

“BT has made it clear to us that they plan major investment in both these areas and have already committed to recruit over 3,000 field engineers in the coming year.

“As a consequence, the recent pension discussions and the securing of a hybrid scheme for CWU grades are completely separate and not in any way linked to the speculation in the press about 6,500 job losses.”

Labour shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey branded the losses “devastating.”

“These job losses will have a real impact on working families and the local community. They raise serious questions over BT’s strategy, whether it’s the appeasement of shareholders in the short term or investment in the long term. 

“The government must urgently meet with BT and the unions to ensure that there are no further job losses and that workers made redundant are properly supported.”