Union agrees BBC deal, job cut talks to begin
LONDON (Reuters) – The BBC can begin plans to cut 4,000 jobs after a technical workers’ union voted on Monday to accept a revised offer put forward by the public broadcaster’s Director General Mark Thompson.
About 92 percent of members of the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union (Bectu) voted to accept a one-year guarantee of no compulsory redundancies while talks move forward on how to reduce staff by 20 percent.
About 41 percent of Bectu members voted on the proposal. The other two BBC unions, the National Union of Journalists and Amicus, previously had agreed to the offer.
Talks are now set to begin at a divisional level to seek redundancy volunteers, according to Luke Crawley, Bectu’s top BBC official. The union said it has reserved the right to strike if too many people are offered such packages.
“Managers with direct responsibility for day-to-day activities will be expected to explain how the BBC can continue to function properly with 20 percent fewer staff,” Bectu said.
In addition to delaying any compulsory redundancies for one year, the BBC agreed to put off the sale of its BBC Resources unit for at least two years. It had been scheduled to be sold much sooner.
Staff at BBC Broadcast also were promised access to final salary pension scheme comparable to the BBC’s and other assurances that terms will remain unchanged for at least three years.
The unit is being sold to Australia’s largest investment bank Macquarie Bank Ltd. and investment fund Macquarie Capital Alliance Group. The group agreed to a one-year moratorium on compulsory job cuts.
The compromise deal with the world’s largest public broadcaster came about after the unions had gone on strike for a day and had been planning more work stoppages.
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