Union members at the BBC will be balloted on strike action
Credit: Danny Lawson/PAThe NUJ and broadcast union Bectu are to ballot members at the BBC after the corporation rejected the union's demands over planned cuts and changes to staff terms and conditions.
Following negotiations with the BBC on Friday over the broadcaster's Delivering Quality First programme, the unions tabled a list of proposals including:
- the withdrawal of an 1 April deadline on changes to terms and conditions for new joiners, including unpredictable pay allowance, redundancy terms, and pay grading;
- a public examination of the plan to move factual programmes from Birmingham to Bristol;
- co-ordinated voluntary redundancy trawls prior to formal consultations;
- no new pay and grading structures implemented before the end of this licence fee settlement in 2017.
But according to a statement issued by the NUJ today, the BBC has largely rejected the proposals and "signalled it intends to drive ahead with its planned schedule of cuts and its unreasonable timetable".
The broadcaster has agreed to await the outcome of the Trust's public consultation in two areas – local radio and Asian Network – before it begins any formal consultation, it has said that if the outcome of the public consultation is delayed beyond March 2012 it reserves the right to begin formal consultation.
According to the NUJ, the BBC has "comprehensively rejected" its other proposals.
"It is vital that any consultation process that takes place over such major cuts across the BBC is genuine and meaningful – the NUJ is not prepared to accept a fait accompli," said Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the NUJ.
"These misguided cuts put the BBC’s very future as a world class public service broadcaster at stake. BBC executives and the coalition government might not care about quality journalism and programming, but staff and members of the public care passionately about the corporation’s future.
"It will be up to all NUJ members and the wider public to fight for our BBC and I urge everyone to do all they can to support our campaign."
In a statement today, Bectu accused the BBC of "holding a gun to the unions' heads" and warned that there would be strikes before Christmas if the broadcaster did not lift its April 2012 deadline for the planned terms and conditions changes.
Both the NUJ and Bectu will not take part in any formal union consultation meetings with the BBC on Delivering Quality First, they confirmed today. The NUJ added that this would "not preclude informal discussions and information sharing at a local level in order that all members of staff can understand how the proposals affect them".
The BBC's director of business operations Lucy Adams said that the broadcaster was "committed to dialogue" with the unions, but added that it was "impossible" to agree to all of their demands.
In an email to BBC staff, Adams said that the broadcaster was under a statutory duty to begin formal consultation on redundancies at the earliest opportunities, and said it would be unfair on staff to link the proposed changes on terms and conditions to redundancy consultations, claiming that it would cause "more uncertainty at a time when people want to know how changes to their division and teams will affect them personally".
She added that the BBC was "committed to consulting fully on the proposals with both the unions and staff" and was not willing to let the proposals be "kicked into the long grass and put off for another five years" by the unions.
To contact the Journalism.co.uk news desk email joel@journalism.co.uk / rachel@journalism.co.uk or call 01273 384 290
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