BALLOT ON NEW BBC RESOURCES OFFER

MEMBERS in BBC Resources London Operations are currently voting on revised reorganisation proposals from management.
Ballot papers have been sent to members in London Television Studios, Post-Production and Graphics, and Radio and Television OBs.
In spite of improvements in the original £12 million savings package, which lawyers advised were significant enough to require a ballot, the Union are recommending members to vote against the new proposals.
Among the improvements in the package are the reinstatements of extra payments and voluntarism for long days, although the trigger time is now 13 hours instead of 12, and the scrapping of plans to force staff to travel to duties within 15 miles of Television Centre in their own time and at their own expense.
While the revised proposals are insufficient to secure an agreement on the reorganisation, negotiators admit that the gap between the two sides is smaller than at any time during the six-month-long talks.
Management’s first attempt to win agreement on a reorganisation which aimed to cut £6 million from the wage bill through job cuts and the introduction of new conditions of service, led to a one-day strike on December 2, 2000.
In a renewed round of discussions in the run up to Christmas, management indicated that they were willing to make concessions on a number of less controversial issues, and promised to continue negotiations in January.
London Operations also promised to table new proposals in January on long days with short breaks, and travel payments, both of which had proved to be major stumbling blocks. A threat of the changes being forced through on January 1 without agreement was lifted by management, and the union responded by postponing its plan to begin a work-to-rule that day.
On January 3, new proposals were sent to the union, with a warning that management intended to impose the changes on February 1. Under current UK labour laws any significant new offer from an employer made during an industrial dispute must be put to a vote of members, to ensure that any subsequent industrial action remains legal.
Advice from lawyers suggested that a straight rejection of the revised package without a ballot of members would prevent the union from proceeding with a work-to-rule if management imposed the new conditions on February 1. The ballot closes on January 26.
Key issues which negotiators believe still stand in the way of an agreement are the 13-hour definition of a long day, interpretation of the BBC's national formula for ‘excess travel’ claims, which will be applied in London Operations instead of the 15 mile radius proposal, and the unresolved question of more than 50 compulsory redundancies, most of them in Studio Management.
In addition, there is no guarantee at present that continued negotiations on issues such as acting pay and late night or early morning transport will conclude with agreement. However, the union hopes that the outcome of these discussions will be known by the time the ballot closes. (CMcL)