Prospect, working with you in EE

On its establishment, EE became the biggest mobile company in the UK and now has more than 30m customers. It has rolled out its 4G network to more customers than any other operator in the UK and indeed in Europe, and is ahead of its targets for doing so, attracting a number of industry awards for network speed and quality.

The company has 15,000 employees, many of whom will be members of Prospect stemming back particularly to the T-Mobile days when the union – then called Connect prior to our merger with Prospect – had a strong record in representing members.

Now, with the owners of the company having agreed to a takeover by BT, and with cost savings of £360m and a total of £3bn in savings on costs and capital expenditure being envisaged, EE employees need Prospect more than ever. We have a dedicated team to support members working in EE and will aim to maximise the opportunities for EE staff as the acquisition process, and then the contingent regulatory approvals, continues.

Prospect members in the Digital division of BECTU are managers and professionals working right across the mobile telecommunications industry, in companies such as O2, Vodafone and Ericsson, and we have links internationally with trade union colleagues through our affiliation to UNI Global Union. In the UK, we work to ensure that government and regulatory policy affecting the communications industry takes into account the interest of employees, and we have sharpened our expertise at analysing industry trends and direction.

Above all, our negotiations officers work very hard where we are recognised, including in BT and many other companies, to deliver the employee voice to company decision-makers over issues such as performance management, working hours, good work, pensions and pay, and to use examples of best practice to drive up standards across the industry. Both Prospect and our sister union in BT, the Communication Workers Union, have a strong and very long-standing relationship with BT. Indeed, the vast majority of BT employees are members of their union – between us, Prospect and the CWU represent over 80% of BT’s entire UK workforce.

Our negotiations officers carry out this work with the support of a network of lay representatives – people who work full-time for companies but who assist the union in a variety of roles and in different capacities.

This will be the approach for which we will strive for our members in EE. You can see the agreements and approaches that we have negotiated for managerial and professional employees in BT on our specific BT pages, and we encourage you to look at them. We hope that we can build our membership in EE, to the point where we represent the vast majority of EE people, negotiating terms and conditions for them in the way that we do for BT’s existing workforce.

In whichever company our members are located, we provide information on issues that matter to you and support our members through any difficulties they may experience at work. Over the coming months, as the merger process continues, we will communicate regularly with you. We are looking for members to support the union’s efforts in EE – so if you can help please contact Prospect’s Organisers

If you work for EE and you’re not currently a Prospect member, there’s no better time to join. Help us to change things for the better – and join a growing, independent and democratic family that gets things done for its members. You can join online or by calling 0300 600 1878.