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Strike notices sent to London Ops members 28.11.00
Strike instruction issued to members in BBC London Operations concerning actions due to start on 02.12.00
Dear Colleague
Instruction for Industrial Action
Following a successful industrial action ballot I am writing to advise you that there is going to be industrial action this weekend. This letter is the formal instruction from BECTU telling you what you should do.
A one-day strike has been called in BBC London Resources on Saturday December 2. This applies to members working in TV Studios including Scenic Staff, TV OBs, Radio OBs, OB Staff in Manchester and Post Production & Graphic Design. The strike will begin at 12 midnight on Friday 1st December and will continue until midnight on Saturday 2nd December. The purpose of the strike is to emphasise the seriousness of the dispute to London Operations management. Please come and be on the picket lines at Television Centre. Contact me or Jim Johnstone at BECTU Head Office on 020 7437 8506 or Tony Lennon at the TV site office on 020 8576 1965.
The law also requires us to activate the second part of the ballot covering action short of industrial action and so starting at midnight on Friday 1st December until midnight on Friday 8th December we are asking you to do the following:
These actions will stop at the end of the seven days and we will restart them on the date when the management plan to impose the changes in your conditions which 1st January 2001. The purpose of the action less than strike action is to target those changes concerning the definition of your base as a 15 mile radius of TV Centre, the issues around working time, ERR and the management's insistence that you are responsible for finding out about changes to your schedules.
The actions have been called before 1st January because, under UK labour laws, strikes and other sanctions must begin within 28 days of any postal ballot of members. We have the freedom to notify the management of further strikes or different kinds of action less than strike action provided we give them at least seven days notice.
It is important that the strike action and other tactics are well supported by all members because the management have made it very clear that they do intend to schedule people to the limits of the new conditions of service that they are imposing. This will mean that existing local arrangements with your schedulers will be brought to an end and the management will be trying to wring the maximum amount of work out of you with the minimum inconvenience to the business, which will mean the maximum inconvenience to you.
If the BBC are successful in forcing through these changes then whenever you work anywhere in the London area away from TV Centre you will be travelling in your own time and at your own expense. This will include Studio staff working at Elstree, Post Production staff working at any outside facility and OB staff working at dozens of sites around London. The impact of the changes on scheduling will mean that you will no longer have the right to refuse long days of more than 12 hours or short turnaround, nor will you be properly compensated for them. The management are only offering 1T if you work more than 13 hours, with nothing for short turnarounds. The payment of ERR is widespread because there are not enough people appointed substantively at the higher levels. Rather than solve the problem London Operations wants you to carry the responsibility with no guarantee that you will be compensated. Like PRP the financial recognition of acting up on a daily basis will be left to the discretion of the manager and we all know how unfair that has proved. Further details of the talks between BECTU and London Ops is available on the BECTU website at www.bectu.org.uk
The other issue that has caused BECTU to ballot for strike action is the compulsory redundancies being imposed. The category of Studio Management is being closed with a loss of 40 posts, there are 11 compulsory redundancies in Manchester and 2 in Radio OBs. There are likely to be a number of other redundancies amongst Allocators, Admin and Stores, although the exact number is still unclear.
Your support will make this strike and the attendant action a success and force London Operations to come back to the negotiating table with an improved offer.
Yours sincerely
Luke Crawley
Issued 28.11.00
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