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BBC NUJ

Another 24-hour strike begins at BBC

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By The Drum Team, Editorial

August 1, 2011 | 3 min read

A second nationwide 24-hour by BBC journalists is underway in protest at compulsory redundancies, threatening disruption to radio and TV programmes.

Members of the National Union of Journalists walked out at midnight after efforts last week to break the deadlocked row failed. And when they return to work tomorrow they will continue to work to rule.

The NUJ’s general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said she expected the strike to be "very solidly supported" by the 3000 NUJ members at the corporation.

She reiterated that members were angered at a "change in approach" by the BBC to job cuts, with a number of compulsory redundancies already made and more expected in the coming weeks.

The two sides are scheduled to meet for talks on August 11, but the NUJ leader said: "There has been absolutely no meaningful movement from the BBC to address the cases of individual journalists losing their jobs now."

Lucy Adams, the BBC's director of business operations, has already said in a message to staff that the corporation was unable to agree to the NUJ's demands for no compulsory redundancies.

"Following the cuts in central Government grants to the World Service and BBC Monitoring we have had to close 387 posts, meaning that regrettably there are nearly 100 staff that as a result is facing compulsory redundancy.

“We have been working with all these affected staff to ensure that they have opportunities for redeployment and retraining but we cannot and will not give preferential treatment to individuals depending on their union status.

"We hope the NUJ will realise that these issues are best solved at a local level, and a national strike that penalises all our audiences is not in the interests of their members, other BBC staff or licence fee payers."

A BBC spokesman said: "We are disappointed that the NUJ is intending to strike and apologise to our audience for any disruption to services this may cause. Industrial action will not alter the fact that the BBC is faced with a number of potential compulsory redundancies, following significant cuts to the central Government grants that support the World Service and BBC Monitoring.

"We will continue with our efforts to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies, however, the number of posts that we are having to close means that unfortunately it is likely to be impossible for us to avoid some compulsory redundancies."

BBC NUJ

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