Dyke facing two ballots in BBC
BECTU members in BBC Education and BBC Technology are voting on Greg Dyke's reorganisation plans.
Ballot papers have been sent to members in both areas, and the ballots will be counted on November 3.
Education members are taking part in a full strike ballot, while those affected by the new subsidiary company BBC Technology Ltd are voting on guarantees aimed at protecting their pay, conditions and pensions.
In BBC Education members are being asked whether they will take industrial action to head off possible redundancies which the union fears could happen once the department has been split up and transferred to other parts of the BBC.
Many of Education's staff are expected to move to sections of Factual & Learning Division, one of four new production centres in Dyke's redesigned BBC. Management plan to move other Education staff into Childrens Programmes, part of another new production department, Drama, Entertainment & Childrens.
Staff in Education fear that they could be transferred into areas which are already working below capacity. As new arrivals, with highly specialised programme-making experience, they could become prime targets for redundancy when their new departments begin cutting back.
The union is also mounting a lobbying campaign to keep the Education Department in one piece, and has argued that the BBC's pool of talent in this genre will be diluted by the proposed break-up.
In BBC Technology Ltd, members from Information Technology, Broadcast Technology Resources, and parts of the Distribution and Technology Division are voting on proposals to integrate them all into the new company.
The voting papers allow members to express their views on the concept of a subsidiary company to market their skills to external customers. In a separate question, they are also asked whether they accept a list of guarantees negotiated by the union to protect future pay bargaining, conditions of service, and pension provisions.
An earlier ballot of Technology members was abandoned because the two issues, Limited status and protection of conditions, were rolled into one question.
The union is advising members that, while the protection package is the best that can be achieved through negotiation, the case for setting up a separate company is unconvincing. Culture Minister has already been told by the union that the relatively limited levels of external work planned for Technology Limited could be undertaken by a combined department inside the BBC without falling foul of European competition rules.
A full explanation of the union's position on BBC Education and BBC Technology Limited has been distributed to members in the two ballots.
Read details of Education ballot
Read details of Technology ballot