STRIKE LOOMS AT BBC RESOURCES

UNION members working in BBC London Resources are to go on strike against cuts in jobs and pay as a result of a recent ballot after negotiations ended without agreement.
In a ballot, which closed on November 17, strike action was supported by 88 per cent of members voting in TV Studios, Post-Production and Graphics, and Outside Broadcasts. A smaller majority of 74 per cent also voted for a work to rule.
The ballot came after talks on compulsory redundancies and changes in conditions of service for more than 1,000 BBC staff in the department broke down without agreement. Management warned that they would go ahead with the changes, part of a £12 million savings package, on January 1 2001, and issued notice of compulsory redundancy to more than 40 staff.
Although the cuts proposals have been modified during three months of talks, Union representatives were unable to achieve a revised package of changes that would be acceptable to members.
Until the final negotiating meeting, the Union had commended management for whittling down the list of compulsory redundancies from more than 260 to only 5 in Radio OBs, 11 in the Manchester OB base, and a few managers, allocators and administrative staff. Both sides were confident that once internal interviews had been held for a raft of new posts in the management and administrative structure, the list of redundancies would have been further reduced. However, the bombshell news about Studio Management left the Union in a position where large-scale compulsory redundancies looked inevitable.
The BBC have issued a statement regarding the news of strike action at BBC Resources. The statement said: “We are very disappointed at the vote in favour of strike action having successfully completed lengthy negotiations with BECTU over our requirement of closing posts for redundancy this vote comes at a critical time for business the Government has set the BBC the challenge of raising over £1 Billion in extra revenue. Greg Dyke’s review of Resources decided to keep production facilities in house on the basis of Resources becoming a cash contributor to the BBC. There is no doubt that strike action will seriously damage the prospect of achieving that obligation. We hope that we can return to discussions with the Union within a number of days.”
Under UK labour laws industrial action has to be taken within four weeks of the ballot announcement, otherwise a re-ballot is obligatory. BECTU have stated that while they are willing to resume negotiations in the hope of reaching an agreed settlement, plans are being prepared for strike action before the legal deadline expires.
(CmcL)