UNION CALLS FOR TALKS ON AXED JOBS AT BSKYB

BECTU have called for full consultation on the 330 job cuts recently announced by satellite broadcaster BSkyB.
ON May 8, BSkyB gave 90 days notice of the redundancies, which will see 300 jobs go in production and 30 more axed in news.
Warning that under UK labour laws, the company are obliged to discuss the planned job cuts, either with staff representatives, or with a recognised union, BECTU are seeking talks on the impending redundancies.
Although BSkyB do not recognise BECTU for collective bargaining purposes, union officials are allowed to assist members in individual grievance and disciplinary cases.
BECTU are pressing the company to open formal discussions with negotiators by mounting a leaflet campaign at Osterley, and continuing their efforts to recruit members.
The union are also planning to use the redundancies as an example of BSkyB's failing commitment to home-produced programming. In their submission to government on the Communications White paper the union argued that BSkyB should be subject to the same targets for local production as terrestrial broadcasters like BBC and ITV.
BSkyB’s substantial investment in Open TV, the interactive satellite service, has sparked fears that BSkyB have been forced into making massive cost-savings at their Osterley base in London. (SP)