BBC members say ‘yes’ to deal

Members of BECTU have voted to accept the agreement in principle reached with the BBC in January.

Members of the NUJ and of Unite have also voted to back the agreement.

BECTU members voted by 92.4% to accept the wide-ranging document [2.6M pdf] which was the result of intensive talks about 2,500 job cuts, the withdrawal of unpredictability allowances (UPA) for new staff and planned changes to pension benefits.

The settlement provides for changes to the existing redundancy agreement, restores payment for unpredictable working for new staff and protects entitlements for current staff who receive UPA.

The agreement also means that the joint unions will now take part in several working groups to discuss a range of topics including a review of UPA payments, a new job family and grading structure and simplification of some of the current agreed statements - those documents negotiated with the joint unions which set out the contractual terms and conditions of BBC staff.

As part of the settlement, the BBC agreed to defer the 1.5% increase in employee pension contributions planned for this year; the increase will now be phased in over two years at 0.75% in April 2009 and April 2010. The planned removal of pension augmentation rules has been put back to April 2011, which will ensure that eligible BBC staff affected by the Salford move will continue to benefit.

BECTU members in BBC Worldwide were consulted separately on the pension aspects of the agreement; they voted by 90.9% to accept these proposals.

At the January talks, it was agreed that consultative ballots would take place after further efforts at local level to find alternatives to compulsory redundancy. BECTU believes that substantial progress has been made in this key area but accepts that there is still more work to be done in BBC Vision. That said, BECTU has been open with its membership in stating that the union cannot rule out the possibility of some compulsory redundancies.

Helen Ryan, BBC Supervisory Official, said: “We are conscious that there is still a possibility of compulsory redundancies in some areas and especially in BBC Vision. However the agreement we have now reached with the BBC will not prevent us from balloting members in Vision if a member is served with a compulsory redundancy notice.”

Formal acceptance of the agreement now means that the national strike ballot which was run has been declared null and void.