BRANCH CONTACT NUMBERS

Martin Aylett 645029 01379 588177 (Out of hours)

Paul Huff 644211 01473 603187 (Out of hours)

All membership enquiries to: Nick Thomas 605374

Women's Issues to: Elisabeth Fosbrooke 645656

Research Senior Branch enquiries to: Steve Haigh 644544

The latest STE news can be found on the WWW (address:- http://www.ste.org.uk/).

BRANCH NEWS IN BRIEF

• Big Names - Big Attendance's. We have held three branch meetings so far this year. At the first at Martlesham Leisure, where we had the National Organiser Leslie Manasseh as guest speaker, the attendance was around 50. The next meeting at Kingpin addressed by Adrian Askew saw an attendance of around 70. At the most recent meeting on 16^th April at Martlesham Leisure with Simon Petch, the General Secretary, as speaker, the attendance topped 100, which well exceeded the conference room's capacity. Any ideas for a local venue that will accommodate 100+ ??

• Innovations 97. On Wednesday, 16^th April, our meeting, Innovations 97, was staged in recognition of our members work being presented simultaneously by BT on site at Innovation 97. For the first time at a branch meeting (at Martlesham at least), we were hosts to the General Secretary, the Executive Council and other officers of the union. Simon Petch gave his "state-of-the-nation" address. Post meeting radio interviews by both Simon Petch and Martin Aylett were featured on SGR-fm news bulletins every half-hour during Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning. Sir Iain Vallance had also been invited to address the meeting but sent a letter of apology stating that his tight programme on site did not allow him time to attend.

• Selective Strike action. Our meeting of the 16^th April unanimously voted to send a message of support to the members involved in the selective strike action in London, which successfully went ahead from the 23^rd to the 25^th April.

• MPG Pay Forum. All three branches were represented at the Pay Forum in London on 26^th April. A report is available, but unfortunately we are unable to distribute it as a supplement to this newsletter because of "restrictions" imposed on the STE by BT. (However, the pay forum was reported on in issue 4 of Campaign News, sent to member's home addresses.)

• Membership Services Direct. This company provides union members with add-on services at preferential rates and will be back on-site on Tuesday, 3^rd June. You will be able discuss services with Helen Andrews and Mark Stevens. Recently Helen's team have be joined by Graham Blewett who is the National Seminar Manager for MSD. Graham will be organising and running a series of lunchtime seminars on various financial topics later in the year.

• Branch Merger. Following the proposition carried at all three branch AGMs earlier this year, the three existing branches (A, B, and C) will merge into a single Martlesham branch, subject to the agreement of the council. It is proposed to hold the inaugural meeting of the "new" branch in July.

NEXT MARTLESHAM EVENT

BRANCH CORRESPONDENCE

BT Bonus Scheme. "One of the factors which influences the "Directorate Measures" is the "Committed People Index" (CPI) which is used to measure the level of commitment BT people have to the company and its vision and mission. The CPI is made up of the following ten questions on the "CARE SURVEY":-

1. Improving quality is part of my normal job
2. Considering everything, I am satisfied with my job
3. My manager's manager can be relied upon to do what he/she says he/she will do
4. My manager does his/her job well
5. Considering everything, would you say that all the changes going on in BT are good for yourself?
6. There is a good sense of co-operation between people in different parts of BT
7. I feel proud to work for BT
8. I rate my pay considering the work I do as
9. My team meets its agreed customer requirements
10. I believe that BT will become the most successful telecommunications group

This implies that if the above questions are marked MORE positively you are MORE likely to get a BONUS or get a BETTER BONUS."

(An extract from a member's letter)

The committee welcomes any comments and articles for publication in future newsletters. Please send any correspondence to:

Paul Huff, pp B54 Room 65, BT Labs.

PLEASE NOTE PAY FORUM REPORT SUPPLEMENT

The committee regrets that this supplement cannot be distributed with this newsletter because of "restrictions" imposed on the STE by BT.