Ballot off at BBC

Unions representing BBC staff have called off a strike ballot after management agreed to not introduce changes to staff terms and conditions ahead of a major review to be held this year.

The NUJ, BECTU and Unite unions had responded angrily to a BBC refusal to wait until the outcome of the BBC Trust’s public consultation on programme cuts before beginning the process for making people redundant (see Labour Research, December 2011, pages 12-14).

The new agreement is a win for the unions who opposed the withdrawal of key allowances for new staff from April 2012, and changes to redundancy terms for current staff from September 2013.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary, warned that this agreement is not the end of the battle.

“The broader cuts announced under the so-called Delivering quality first programme include proposals to cut jobs and services that will seriously dilute quality journalism and programming at the BBC,” she said.