BBC NUJ members prepare for strike ballot

Letter to ALL MEMBERS AT THE BBC
Colleagues

You will have seen the announcement concerning senior managers and pay. Whilst we welcome pay restraint at the very top and have been calling for it for many years, for many the announcement will be seen as too little, too late. Particularly, as the executive board recently were awarded consolidated increases on their basic pay of more than 30%. Some within the wider senior manager group (our members, for example) are deserving of an increase however, the Union does not currently have negotiating rights for this group of workers.

Following a meeting of our reps across the BBC, the Joint Unions have submitted our pay claim for this year. We are clear that we are seeking a significant increase for all members within grades 2-11. The claim is for an across the board payment of £1,800, this means that the increase will significantly help those at the lower end of the pay scale. Amongst other things, management is proposing an increase of employee contributions to the pension scheme of 0.75% in April of this year. The Union has been given no justification for the proposed increase and we know that the scheme is generally in good health. Any increases in pension contributions should be shared by the employer and the employees. We have indicated we wish to conclude our negotiations with the BBC on pay and pensions prior to April 2009 for pay increases due in August 2009.

Over the last several months, the Union has had to intensify its campaign to continue to avoid compulsory redundancies of members at the BBC. Your representatives, the M/FoCs have continued to affirm the mandate that we will take all available steps including balloting our entire membership across the BBC if management seek to enforce compulsory redundancy on our members. Thus far, we have been successful and have been able to reach agreements avoiding compulsory redundancies. However, last night talks broke down concerning the threat of compulsory redundancies in BBC Scotland. Management there are hell bent on pressing ahead with compulsory redundancy. We offered solutions that would allow us to continue to work through the issues, as we have elsewhere. However management refused and are now intending to begin compulsory selection of NUJ members. BBC Scotland has suffered from bad managerial decisions. A boom and bust approach has been taken, initially, overspending on new premises and technology at Pacific Quay. Now our members are being asked to bear the brunt of the overspend. On the same day that the Director General talks about one of his main priorities being increasing spend on network production from the Nations, management threatens to make more than twenty television programme makers redundant. This takes the lack of joined up thinking in management to new levels. We are also facing the prospect of compulsory redundancies in BBC World Service, where management are trying to offshore production and jobs to South Asia, losing editorial control from Bush House and forcing members out of work unnecessarily.

The Union is calling on management to take a step back. However, we are also beginning the preparations for an industrial action ballot of all BBC members. We will update you on this in the next few days and let you know when to expect your ballot paper. At a time when an organisation with the scale of the BBC has guaranteed additional funding, there is no excuse for the compulsory redundancies among programme makers.

We know that when we have called on the membership to support members under threat, you have always risen to the challenge. It is important you do so again. We will keep you updated as to events as they unfold.

Regards Paul
Paul McLaughlin
National Broadcasting Organiser
NUJ