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Union to mount political campaign against 89 redundancies while volunteers' trawl begins. 29.08.00
A meeting of members at Pebble Mill voted to start a trawl for voluntary redundancies after the first meeting with management to discuss the planned closure of both BBC TV studios in Birmingham.
Members also backed BECTU's efforts to mount a campaign among local MPs and councillors over the controversial shut-down of the West Midlands' last remaining mainstream TV studios.
The decision by members to allow a trawl for volunteers came soon after a negotiating meeting where managers from Resources Limited predicted that Pebble Mill could have a future as a Post-Production and Graphics operation, even if the BBC decides to move out of its purpose-built studio centre at Pebble Mill.
The assurance came after union reps questioned whether the BBC could claim to be the Midlands' premier programme-maker without any studios.
Management claimed that changes in the methods of programme production, and a preference among some producers for London facilities, meant that Pebble Mill's workload would never increase to a level that justified keeping even one of the centre's two TV studios open.
BECTU emphasised that any discussion of the BBC's role in the Midlands should involve senior production executives, none of whom was present at the meeting, but welcomed the pledge by Resource managers that the 89 redundancies would be carried out with as little pain as possible.
However, union reps remained unconvinced that the decision to close Pebble Mill's studios had been properly examined at a senior level within the BBC, and later won support from local members to begin lobbying West Midland decision makers, as well as launching a petition to the Board of Governors.
REASONS FOR THE STUDIO CLOSURES
Although the commissioned hours for programme-makers based in Birmingham was expected to increase by 10-20% next year, most of the new projects were likely to be shot in location style using lightweight cameras, and would not need a proper studio.
Claims from the union side that the studios had been ineffectively marketed, and that there was a potential for revenue from independent producers, were rejected by management.
Union reps pointed out that the meeting came only days after DG Greg Dyke had promised a major increase in programme budgets, and there seemed to be a contradiction between this, and the planned studio closure.
FUTURE OF PEBBLE MILL SITE
Many factors would influence the decision, and the closure of two studios was not necessarily the most important of these - the space freed up could still be used.
Other issues being considered were: the urgent need for refurbishment, estimated at several million pounds; the "iconic" profile that Pebble Mill had with the public; the site's inaccessibility to the public at a time when the BBC was trying to position its buildings close to community audiences; and the role of Pebble Mill as a technical backup for Television Centre (as seen recently when West London suffered a major power failure).
The BBC was, said the management, committed to retaining a centre in Birmingham, and regretted the financial need to close the studios.
Whatever happened, they said, the BBC would still be in Birmingham, albeit in smaller premises.
SERVICING MIDLANDS PROGRAMME-MAKERS IN FUTURE
However, the management insisted that BBC producers would continue to exercise choice over facilities for making their programmes, would be free to use London-based studios, and could not be forced to go to 3sixtymedia, the Granada/BBC joint venture.
The management team at the meeting agreed to feed the union's comments back to production, and would encourage them to set up a meeting with concerned reps.
THE JOB CUTS
See table of redundancies
160 staff will remain working for Resources Ltd in Birmingham, many of them in areas which are not affected by the studio closure, including:
In addition, staff working for Production Services England (PSE)in areas like regional news are not affected by the cuts. Managers at the negotiating meeting said it was unlikely that volunteers would be invited from PSE.
IMPACT ON STAFF
The areas faced with selection for dismissal are:
The union raised the issue of different notice periods for staff being selected for redundancy, and those whose entire category was being closed. Under current agreements with the BBC, five months notice should be given to anyone after being selected for redundancy, while six months applies to staff in categories being closed completely.
BECTU asked management to prevent staff ending up with different redundancy dates by agreeing to a single date which all staff could use as a basis for planning their futures. Management agreed to consider the suggestion.
RESETTLEMENT/BUMPING TO AVOID REDUNDANCY
BECTU asked for a special training fund to be made available to staff - a request which management said they would consider - and suggested that the BBC should pay for skills' assessment for any staff who wanted to take advantage of training before leaving employment. The union-backed SkillsBase project was mooted as one way of delivering this service to staff.
The prospect of "bumping" - where staff in areas safe from redundancy could nevertheless volunteer to go, saving a compulsory redundancy elsewhere - was played down by management. Many of the areas where bumped redundancies might be possible were outside Resources Limited, and there were, they said, organisational and legal problems.
Future vacancies, though, would be handled in way that favoured staff and ex-staff at Pebble Mill.
BECTU representatives said that any trawl for volunteers [approved by a meeting of members later] should cover as many other areas as possible to help eliminate compulsory redundancies.
Management said that no notice of redundancy would be issued to anyone until there had been full consultation with the unions, and confirmed that Resources Limited did not intend proposing any change in the calculation of redundancy payments this Autumn.
KEY CONCERNS FROM THE UNION SIDE
CONCLUSION
The management's stated desire to limit the pain of redundancy was welcome, but it didn't allay union doubts about the studio shutdown plan. Based on straightforward utilisation figures, the two Pebble Mill studios were clearly at risk, but the union side were not convinced that there had been a full analysis of the BBC's role in Birmingham before the closure was announced.
Members agreed after the negotiating meeting to allow a trawl for volunteers, but called on the union to raise the political profile of the BBC's withdrawal from TV studio production in Birmingham.
BECTU plans to continue discussions with Resources management about the Pebble Mill closures, while running a lobbying campaign which includes: inviting Greg Dyke to meet Birmingham staff at an open meeting; letters to local political figures; and a petition to BBC Governors.
Details of Pebble Mill job cuts
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