Unions Meet BBC On Pensions Position

Senior union officials are due to meet BBC management today after more than 70 representatives from BECTU, the NUJ and Unite met in London on Monday to agree a position on BBC pay and pensions.
This follows two full weeks of staff briefings at BBC sites across the UK. Recent union meetings were described as the best attended for many years.
The joint unions wrote to the BBC's human resources team to urge a withdrawal of the Corporation's current proposals on pensions in favour of a "meaningful and constructive dialogue .... regarding all options available to address the pension deficit."
Representatives responded to plans to cut the link between basic pay and staff retirement earnings. Representatives spoke with one voice to confirm the mandate from their members for a ballot for industrial action should the BBC be unwilling to act to protect the pensions entitlements so far accrued.
The BBC's proposal, tabled last month to address a pensions deficit of £1.97bn, would limit increases in pensionable pay to a maximum one per cent a year irrespective of the level of annual increases or the value of promotional rises.
Both sides agree that the proposals affect all BBC staff, whatever their length of service. The joint unions believe that many BBC staff could face poverty in retirement as a result.
Speaking during the last meeting, Gerry Morrissey, BECTU General Secretary, underlined the importance of the joint union challenge on pensions for both current and future staff and he echoed the determination of representatives to represent the needs of the ordinary BBC employee.
"BBC staff should be proud of the pay and pensions arrangements currently in place and which they and their unions have fought for over many years.
"We cannot allow hostility to the BBC from certain quarters to dissuade us from representing the interests of our members. The BBC's reputation is being damaged by the greed of its managers and not by the rank and file BBC employee," commented Gerry Morrissey.
The unions campaign will also continue to address the BBC's poor offer on pay for 2010/11 which proposes a pay freeze for all staff paid over £37,726 and which seeks to jettison important, long-standing agreements between the BBC and the recognised unions which have helped staff facing redundancy to secure redeployment.
Under the BBC's current proposals 30 per cent of BECTU's membership in the BBC would see no increase in pay this coming year.
(BMcN)