Thousands of BT and Openreach workers staged a fresh strike on Tuesday as part of an ongoing pay dispute with the telecoms giant.
The Communication Workers Union (CWU) said more than 40,000 of its members are on strike today and Wednesday.
It coincides with further strikes at Royal Mail, where 115,000 CWU members are due to move out on August 31.
Separately, major unions are trying to coordinate strike action this fall as they step up calls for better pay.
Unite and Unison have tabled motions before next month’s union congress calling for future strikes to be synchronized.
It follows a wave of strike action across Britain, involving a range of sectors including railway workers, lawyers and refuse collectors.
The CWU said its members are striking against a £1,500 pay rise offered by BT Group. “The reason for the strike is simple: workers will not accept a massive deterioration in their living standards,” said CWU General Secretary Dave Ward.
BT Group said the offer represented an average raise of around 5%, rising to 8% for the lowest paid and marking the highest pay rise in more than 20 years.
But Mr Ward said: “In the context of retail price index inflation, which has already hit 11.7% this year, this is a dramatic real pay cut.”
“These are the same workers who have kept the country connected during the pandemic,” he said. “Without CWU members, there would not have been a work-from-home revolution, and key engineering infrastructure might have failed or broken when our country needed it most.”
A BT spokesman said: “We know our colleagues are struggling with the effects of high inflation and while we are disappointed we respect their decision to strike.
“We have awarded the best possible pay and are in constant discussions with the CWU to find a way forward from here.”
It is the second time BT workers have gone on strike this year. Royal Mail postal workers will also go on strike again, going on strike again on Wednesday, while there will be two more days of industrial action on September 8th and 9th.
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