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Progress in talks with BT over the unagreed implementation of a new performance and appraisal system may have taken some of the heat out of a simmering industrial relations crisis - but boiling point isn't far off if the company fails to address CWU concerns.

That was the warning issued to senior BT management at CWU Telecoms and Financial Services conference where delegates backed an emergency motion tabled by the Telecoms Executive calling for industrial action as a last resort if the company ultimately refuses to budge.

Amongst the lines in the sand already drawn by the union is a categorical refusal to accept that an annual performance review score of "generally satisfactory" should ever warrant punitive action against an individual.

Delegates also agreed that headquarters assistance must be given to branches and members faced with performance-related interviews that do not comply with BT's mandatory guidance to managers – and that a special branch forum will be held in October to discuss the next steps in the campaign against the unagreed ePerformance system.

Proposing the emergency motion, assistant secretary Simon Sapper told conference: "Since the very well attended forum in April we've engaged BT in dialogue, and the dialogue has been quite productive. It is fair to say that the knives being wielded around have been either sheathed or the points blunted.

"What this motion does is bank the progress we've made without mortgaging our future. We will continue to work for a performance management system and an appraisal system that is fit for purpose."

Simon stressed the union would never accept either an "artificial levelling which corrupts and undermines the appraisal process", or any suggestion that 'generally satisfactory' APR score should be the basis for anything but supportive counselling and coaching.

A failure by the company to accept these fundamental points, he stressed, would prove incendiary.

Linda Woodings of East Midlands branch agreed: "When BT introduced this new procedure they knew it was an unfair and unjust system, and they know it was a betrayal of this union's confidence in them because of the fact we'd negotiated for months on a fantastic new process to manage under-performance which is now effectively shot out of the water by this arbitrary new system that has been dumped on managers."

"Managers themselves don’t want it: I've had various discussions with operational line managers about what they're going to do - and they've all basically said they're going to go back to having their own informal performance process before they get to this process.

"The whole reason for the managing under-performance process that you wouldn’t have different managers managing performance in an informal way and in a different way in different parts of the business.

"My branch believes this is just another stick to beat our members with - it's a fast-track way of getting rid of people out of the company."

In a separate debate delegates unanimously committed the executive to negotiate a national agreement governing the operation of the 'performance management' process that is "respectful, supportive, corrective and not punitive".

Proposing the motion, which demands a ballot for industrial action if such an agreement cannot be reached by the end of this year, Tom O'Sullivan of Coventry branch said: "Members who've never had a need to approach the union are queuing up for advice, reeling with the shock of finding themselves being hounded for productivity or disciplined for minuscule breaches of quality control.

"Things that they thought they'd been doing right for years are suddenly being scrutinised for the slighted slaw or twitch. It's just a blatant abuse of a punitive tool by management and nothing bit a concerted attack on our members."

Seconding the motion Jan Zablocki of North Midlands branch added: "This performance management issue is one of them most important issues confronting our members in the company today because what it is allowing BT to do is set quite arbitrary standards.

"You get on the wrong side of your manager and he can soon manufacture the circumstances where you are really struggling to deliver anywhere near a decent level of performance.

"We can't have this in a modern workforce, we're not going to have it and our members have said to us they want something done about this.

Assistant secretary Grace Mitchell agreed: "That is exactly the type of management style and approach that really does upset our members- and BT you ignore that at your peril.

"Management style has had our members take to the streets before, and BT, if you don't sort this out they will be taking to the streets again."