Technology ballot
BBC members in departments covered by Technology Ltd proposals are to be balloted.
This follows meetings with management, and a special meeting of the union's BBC Divisional Committee, covering the BBC's proposals to form a wholly owned Technology Ltd subsidiary.
The company is intended to include BBC staff currently in a number of IT (Information Technology) areas along with those in Resources Technology in BBC Resources Ltd.
The formation of the proposed company needs the approval of the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, and BECTU has written saying that while the union has no objection to the setting up of Technology as a separate department, it does not believe there is currently a case for a limited company.
The BBC Committee, consisting of union representatives from across the Corporation, agreed to a ballot, asking if members if they wish to transfer to the proposed Technology Ltd, following a number of improvements to the proposals obtained from management during negotiations, including:
- From two years from the date of transfer of staff into Technology Ltd they will continue to be covered by the BBC Agreed Statements.
- That staff will be covered by BBC-wide pay negotiations in the first year, and will not receive less than the Corporation standard pay award in the second year.
- Existing staff remain in the BBC Pension Scheme and new staff will be able to join on the same basis as the rest of the Corporation.
Letter to DCMS Secretary of State Chris Smith concerning the proposed creation of BBC Technology Ltd
15 September 2000Thank you for your letter of 3rd August and subsequent letter from Paul Heron of 7th September.
BECTU has had a number of meetings with the BBC to discuss their proposals for the creation of BBC Technology Ltd. During those discussions we talked about the business plan with BBC managers, and a number of assurances were given to us in relation to terms and conditions of employment, including pensions, for those staff proposed to transfer. We support the BBC's plans to bring together all the IT/Technology functions currently dispersed across the directorates, into one unit. However, we are not convinced that what the BBC intend doing with this business requires limited status. For example, their external work is not so extensive that it will bring them into conflict with clLrrent European legislation.
Ideally, we believe that the government should support, in principle, the creation of BBC Technology Ltd but should not approve its formation until the level of external work requires you to do so.
We are currently putting the BBC's proposals for protection of terms and conditions out to ballot, advising our, members that this package is the best that can be achieved through negotiation. We are prepared to do this because the guaranteed income for Technology from in-house agreements convinces us that the employment prospects should be stable. However, without these guaranteed contracts the business plan does not stand up to scrutiny and in the event that the BBC later reneged on these contractual obligations it would put many of our members' jobs at risk and would result in us coming back to you seeking your intervention.
Our BBC Divisional Committee is extremely concerned that the BBC appears to be incorporating sections of its work and its staff at an increasing rate, and this policy seems contradictory to the philosophy of "One BBC".
We are hopeful that BBC Technology will have a much brighter future than BBC Resources Ltd, which we opposed as we felt their business plan, especially the level of external income, was overly optimistic. Unfortunately our fears have proved to be true, and we believe that the number of limited companies created by the BBC should not be increased without further obvious advantages to the staff and licence payer.
On behalf of BECTU I thank you for your patience in awaiting our response.
Gerry Morrissey
Assistant General Secretary
Letter to DCMS Secretary of State Chris Smith concerning the proposed creation of BBC Technology Ltd
6 October 2000
Further to my letter of 15 September, it has been drawn to my attention that paragraph 3 of this letter contradicts the comments in paragraph 2. Paragraph 2 is correct but paragraph 3 should have read:
If the Government was minded to support the creation of BBC Technology Limited then this should not happen prior to the level of external work exceeding the European limits.Sorry for the inconvenience caused.
Gerry Morrissey
Assistant General Secretary
Letter to BECTU members being balloted on BBC Technology Ltd proposals
I am writing to you to explain the outcome of our talks with the BBC on the proposal to set up BBC Technology Ltd. As you know, the BBC wishes to create a wholly-owned subsidiary bringing together 1300 staff from different parts of the BBC and Resources Ltd. They believe the new company will produce significant savings for the BBC, as well as securing substantial external work which will generate income for the BBC.
BECTU's concerns are about the principle of a separate company, the terms and conditions of the staff transferring, and the pay awards for those staff following the transfer.
Background
The BBC is setting up this new company under the TUPE regulations. TUPE stands for Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) and means that under the relevant legislation all the terms and conditions of staff will transfer into the new company. The TUPE legislation protects employment and that means staff cannot refuse to transfer. One problem is that the legislation does not specify how long the terms and conditions are protected for, and secondly, TUPE does not cover pensions.
Members in some of the affected areas have been asking why the union cannot hold a ballot for strike action in opposition to the proposal. The simple answer is that it is illegal to take strike action over the principle of a transfer of undertakings.
Protection of Conditions
In our meetings with the BBC we have been insisting that your conditions of service will continue to be protected after the transfer and also that your membership of the BBC Pension Scheme will be unaffected. The BBC finally agreed that for two years from the date of the transfer staff in Technology Ltd would continue to be covered by the Redundancy Agreement, Annual Leave, Sick Pay and all the other Agreed Statements. The BBC also conceded that all existing staff could remain in the Pension Scheme and new staff would have the right to join it on the same basis as the rest of the BBC. Two years of protection is a step forward from the BBC's first position, which only protected your conditions for one year. The two year period is the same as that offered to those staff going into Resources Ltd in 1998 (it was only offered to them after taking industrial action!). The treatment on pensions is similar to that offered to Resources Ltd staff.
On pay, BECTU insisted that the staff should remain in the same bargaining unit as the rest of the BBC. In other words, whatever was negotiated and agreed for the BBC would also apply to the staff in Technology Ltd. The BBC initially said that they would only agree that for the first year. Subsequently they have improved on the offer and conceded two years. However they wish to reserve the right to come forward with proposals in year one to change the BBC's Performance Related Pay system from the current one. They believe they can come up with something better to motivate the staff, both individually and as part of a team. Whatever shape this takes, they have guaranteed that in August 2001 no-one will receive less than the BBC pay rise. After that, in year two they want to reserve the right to propose a completely new pay structure and will discuss that with BECTU. Whatever the outcome of those talks, they have guaranteed that in 2002 no-one in Technology Ltd will receive less than the BBC pay rise.
Why a Limited Company?
BECTU has already said that we oppose Technology as a limited company. We believe that the BBC could pull all these functions together in a single department or "petal" and keep all the staff in the BBC. The argument that the need to pursue commercial work forces Technology out of the BBC does not stand up. The work that BBC Technology hopes to get is a very small part of the total market in each area, and that means they would not fall under current EC competition regulations if they stayed in house. However the BBC rejects this and is insisting on setting up the limited company. BECTU has seen the business plan and our main concern is the guarantees of work from the BBC which will ensure stability of employment. Resources Limited was set up with no guarantees and quickly found itself in difficulties over falling income, which resulted in redundancies. At the meetings with BECTU the BBC were clear that except in two areas all of the work currently done by the constituent parts of Technology will be transferring to the new company for a period of 5½ years. The two exceptions are Consultancy and Projects, where the volume of work has yet to be finalised and in the Broadcast Playout Centre, where the work is guaranteed until the new BPC is up and running in spring of 2003. The details of the contract between the BBC and Technology Limited have yet to be agreed by the Executive Board but the BBC believes that the transfer of work is central to the success of the new company.
The new company has to gain the approval of the Department for Culture, Music and Science and we have written to the DCMS (text on the website) in similar terms to this letter saying while we have no objection to the setting up of Technology as a separate department we do not believe there is a case for a limited company. We have reserved the right to come back to Chris Smith if the guarantees of work do not materialise.
Consultative Ballot
Enclosed with this letter is a ballot paper, which I would ask you to complete and return as soon as possible in the envelope provided. The final position as outlined above is the best that can be achieved through negotiation. What that means is that if you want to accept the transfer on those terms you should vote "YES". If you vote "NO" the next letter you will receive from BECTU would be a ballot for industrial action in which you would have to vote "YES" for industrial action, having rejected this final offer.
It is the view of your negotiators that it would require several strikes to persuade the BBC to improve on this offer. If you have any queries about this letter or the ballot please contact me at Head Office.
Luke Crawley
Supervisory Official
Amended 4 October 2000
Amended 9 October 2000