LONDON, June 4 (Reuters) – Staff at British telecoms provider BT (BT.L) are to be balloted on industrial action after the company declined to improve on a 2 percent pay rise offer, the Communication Workers Union (CWU) said on Friday.

The CWU said last week it would hold the ballot if BT did not come back with a better offer by Friday. The strike would be the first faced by the company in more than 20 years.

“We’re obviously very disappointed that BT has not improved its pay offer … we now have no option than to put the wheels in motion to ballot all appropriate members in BT for strike action,” said CWU deputy general secretary Andy Kerr.

“Our members are angry about the blatant double standards when it comes to pay for those at the top compared to the rest of staff at the company.”

A timetable for the ballot will be announced next week.

Kerr earlier told BBC radio he had no doubt the more than 50,000 BT workers his union represents would vote in favour of industrial action in a ballot, but did not say what form the action might take.

BT said it was hopeful of reaching an agreement in the next few weeks before any action began. A spokesman reiterated that the company’s offer was fair, and more generous than pay awards the union had accepted at other companies.

Kerr said the union remained open to talks, but stressed that only a revised pay offer would bring the dispute to an end.

Britain’s economy is expected to grow by 1.3 percent this year, according to the latest projections from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. [ID:nLAG006295]

But average weekly earnings including bonuses rose 4 percent in the three months to March, the biggest rise since the second quarter of 2008. The jobless rate held steady at 8 percent. [ID:nLDE64B12S]

BT workers voted overwhelmingly for a strike ballot on the same day they learned that Chief Executive Ian Livingston would receive a bonus of 1.2 million pounds ($1.8 million) after hitting targets for financial performance and customer service.

The head of Britain’s biggest union told Reuters on Thursday he believed tougher anti-union laws were certain under Britain’s new government and would trigger confrontation with workers already angered by proposed spending cuts. [ID:nLDE6512AP]

British Airways (BAY.L) cabin crew have staged a series of strikes in a long-running and bitter dispute over the airline’s cost-cutting drive and staffing levels. [ID:nLDE6501IU] ($1=.6831 Pound) (Reporting by Georgina Prodhan, Avril Ormsby and Kylie MacLellan; editing by Karen Foster and Jon Loades-Carter)