Media and telecom workers in major disputes

Three thousand journalists at the BBC were being balloted for strike action as Labour Research went to press.

The dispute concerns the victimisation of two NUJ journalist union activists. Adli Hawwari and Dr Abdul-Hadi Jiad were sacked on February 19. They both worked on the BBC World Services Arabic Section and were dismissed without a disciplinary hearing. The union says they were never warned they were under investigation and were denied union representation as well as their contractual right to appeal.

Members of the BECTU broadcasting union at the Scottish Media Group have voted for strike action over pay and redundancies. The ballots produced an 83% vote amongst Glasgow-based staff and 81% at Grampian TV.

The dispute followed the company's decision to impose a 2% pay increase without agreement and then announce redundancies at Grampian.

BT engineers voted last month by over two to one in favour of strike action over a new bonus scheme called Self Motivating Teams (SMT). Around 14,000 engineers, members of the CWU communication workers' union, are effected. They have been told that the scheme is voluntary. However, the union does not believe it will remain voluntary as BT has made clear that SMTs are a key element of its future strategy.