Second class World Service

BBC World Service management have been accused of offering second class contracts to staff working in local language services.

The policy, introduced on 1 June despite union opposition, limits all new staff to a non-renewable three year contract, with no possibility of them being given a further contract or permanent job - a direct contradiction of the approach everywhere else in the BBC.

The situation resulted in the unanimous approval of an emergency motion at the BECTU BBC Divisional Conference, attended by Branch delegates from across the Corporation, on Monday 14 June: "This divisional conference instructs the BBC Division to mount an all out campaign which includes a publicity campaign, public meetings, lobbying and if necessary industrial action, against the fixed term contract policy of the World Service. It further instructs the BBC Division to condemn within the BBC as well as nationally and internationally the World Service's policy of institutional racism".

It was emphasised during speeches in support of the motion that the BBC's policy could lead to staff being deported to their home countries where, in some cases, their safety could be at risk from governments hostile to the BBC's international transmissions.

At the Conference it was agreed to liaise closely with the NUJ on the implementation of this campaign.

The management move, however, could be caught out by a commitment in this year's annual pay negotiations, which promises detailed talks in all BBC Directorates about the use of short term contacts.

Pay negotiations nearly ground to a halt when BBC management turned down a union demand that World Service should be brought into line with the rest of the BBC, where any staff with five years service on short contract can expect to be given permanent jobs, provided their department promised them 12 months' further employment.

World Service have been exempt from the five year job guarantee since it was introduced. The unions have repeatedly condemned the second class treatment of language staff who have no promise of a permanent job, and are often laid off after several years on rolling fixed-term contracts.

The unions have considered mounting legal challenges to this policy on the grounds that many of the language staff affected are from ethnic backgrounds, and could claim to have suffered direct racial discrimination.

The change of policy of 1 June did at least offer some existing staff the chance of a permanent contract - those with at least five years' service on short term contacts, and an offer of a further contract lasting at least a year, will be given permanent posts in line with the rest of the BBC. However, even this concession falls short of practice else where in the BBC where staff who complete five years on short contract need only have a promise of continuing work, rather than a signed contract, to secure a full time post.

The plan that new staff will be fired after three years is out of the step with the rest of Corporation, where there have been conscious moves to move staff to permanent employment.

BECTU and NUJ believe the World Service's policy to be outdated in an age of unrestricted travel and the internet. Previously the BBC has argued that local language staff need to be replaced frequently because they quickly lose touch with linguistic, political and social developments in their home countries whilst working in London for the World Service.

Negotiators hope that the talks promised in this year's pay offer will lead to a management rethink.

Even if these discussions fail, the legislative net is tightening. The UK government's new Fairness at Work laws could outlaw so-called 'waiver clauses', in which fixed-term contract staff sign away their right to claim unfair dismissal when they are dumped by their employers. Similarly a forthcoming EU Directive on contract workers could revolutionise the way short-term staff are treated.