BT has today strongly denied there is any truth in the rumours that senior management at their Adastral Park research complex at Martlesham Heath have taken pay cuts.
BT has today strongly denied there is any truth in the rumours that senior management at their Adastral Park research complex at Martlesham Heath have taken pay cuts.
The telecoms giant – which is struggling to pull itself out of a multi-billion pound debt – has also denied that they plan to pull out of the building and move into smaller premises.
Over the last couple of years BT has cut back on its temporary contract staff and has been making thousands of regular employees redundant in a bid to trim expenses.
In November last year they announced plans to shed 5,000 staff each year for an indefinite period in order to make drastic savings. That figure was later reduced to 2,000 a year and the cut-backs have continued.
Information given to the Evening Star said that because of the on-going cuts in the workforce there were plans for BT to look for somewhere smaller and to sell Adastral Park within the next two years.
But a spokesman for the company said this was "complete nonsense, adding: "Adastral Park at Martlesham Heath is not closing, there has never been any suggestion that it could close and there are no, not even the remotest, plans to close it and move to smaller premises.
"BT itself is opening companies on the site as an on-going thing and other companies are also moving on to the site. It will not be sold."
The spokesman also poured cold water over the suggestion that senior management had agreed to pay cuts.
"It is total rubbish to suggest that senior management or any one else at BT's Adastral Park is taking or has taken a pay cut," he added.
Most of BT's research and development is done at Martlesham Heath where some of the most advanced technological achievements have been born.
Among the innovations is Brightstar, a corporate think-tank and BTexact where advanced communications for global use are developed.
The BT group itself, however has lacked behind in the telecoms boom and has just been split into separate businesses in an effort to regain the confidence of its investors.
Weblink:
www.bt.com
www.btexact.com/adastral-park/
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