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NUJ announces strike at BBC on 15 July

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

July 8, 2011 | 3 min read

The National Union of Journalists has announced that journalists at the BBC will strike on Friday 15 July over compulsory redundancies.

The NUJ has called on the BBC to enter urgent talks to resolve the threat of compulsory redundancies for the small number of outstanding cases and for the reinstatement of a member dismissed in the BBC World Service. The strike will go ahead if these issues are not addressed by the BBC.

The Union said that the BBC rejected all proposals put forward by the BBC, with two members of the NUJ to leave BBC Monitoring over the next two weeks.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: "We know that there are hundreds of people who want to leave the BBC and who have been denied that chance. Yet at the same time people are now being targeted and forced out of the door. We merely want the BBC to manage the redundancy process in a humane and fair way.

"This unprecedented attack and threat to the livelihoods of NUJ members now and in the immediate future is a direct result of the licence fee deal done behind closed doors by the BBC Executive in 2010. We believe that the BBC's resources should be spent on protecting core journalism and programming for audiences. This means prioritising its staff. It is wasteful and unfair to force people to leave the BBC when there are viable redeployment alternatives and volunteers who are not being allowed to go.

"It is not right that people are being forced into compulsory redundancy in the BBC World Service in the UK when an extra £2.2 million has been granted by the Foreign Office for the next three years to mitigate the cuts. Whilst journalists are bearing the impact of these cuts, the BBC is not acting to properly tackle the major problem of excessive executive pay - salaries at the top of the BBC are a staggering 21.5 times the median salary and 47 times the lowest salary. If pay was fairer, fewer jobs of programme makers and broadcasters would be at risk.

"The NUJ and your MFoCs represent more than 80 per cent of journalists working for the corporation. We are confident that all NUJ members will stand together to fight compulsory redundancies and make the case for an alternative.

"The NUJ stands prepared to continue talks and negotiate meaningfully with the BBC in order to avert industrial action. I hope they take up this offer and a sensible resolution can be reached."

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