BBC Resources strike date set

A one-day strike has been called in BBC London Resources on Saturday December 2.

The stoppage is part of a week of action by BECTU members protesting against job cuts and reductions in pay in TV Studios, Post-Production and Graphics, and Outside Broadcasts.

A ballot which closed on November 17 produced a majority of 74% in favour of strike action in an effort to win changes in a £12m cuts package planned by the BBC. London Operations, part of BBC Resources Limited, has been set new profit targets as part of Greg Dyke's drive to find funding for new broadcast and online services.

Members in the department will be instructed to withdraw their labour for 24 hours from midnight on Friday December 1 - many programmes due to be transmitted on Saturday are likely to be hit by the action.

Read strike instruction

For the rest of the week, until midnight on Friday December 8, members will be working to rule by:

• refusing to work more than 12 hours in any turn of duty, and insisting on breaks of at least 11 hours between separate duties;
• reporting to their base buildings at the start of duty if they are schedule to work elsewhere, instead of travelling directly to locations or other buildings;
• declining to act up on behalf of absent supervisors on an ad hoc intermittent basis;
• refusing to accept changes in schedules when off duty.

The work to rule is intended to highlight the strength of feeling among members over changes to scheduling agreements and other aspects of conditions of service which could cost staff hundreds or thousands of pounds each year.

In addition to cuts in earnings, London Operations management have also announced a number of compulsory redundancies. Roughly 50 staff are to be sacked, most of them in Studio Management and Manchester OBs. Although this figure is well below the original target of more than 260 cuts, thanks to the management's widespread use of natural wastage and voluntary redundancy, the union is still concerned that so many staff are being sacked unwillingly.

Under the BBC's proposals, changes in terms and conditions are due to take effect on January 1 2001, followed by most of the job cuts on March 31.

Industrial action has been called well before these dates because, under UK labour laws, strikes and other sanctions must be timed within 28 days of any postal ballot of members, with seven days' notice being given to the employer.

The union has indicated that it would be willing to resume talks on the savings package if management tabled a significant new offer, but no formal approach has yet been made by the BBC.

Letter to BBC management giving
legal notice of industrial action.

NOTIFICATION OF INDUSTRIAL ACTION FOLLOWING BALLOT

This notice is issued in accordance with and for the purpose of Section 234(A) of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992.

Following the result of the ballot of BECTU members advised to you in our communication dated 17th November 2000 concerning the trade dispute regarding the redundancy proposals and the Changes to terms and conditions, BECTU intends to call upon the members describcd below to take part in industrial action:

All those BECTU mcmbers described to you in the Notice of Industrial Action Ballot dated 20th October and listed in our letters of 31st October and 1st November

The industrial action will be discontinuous.

The intended dates for the employees to take part in the action are: strike action, beginning at midnight on Friday 1st December 2000 and continuing until midnight on Saturday 2nd Dccember 2000 and on such further dates as shall be notified to you by giving notice at least 7 days in advance as required by the legislation; and industrial action short of strike action, the intended days for which are to commence from midnight on Friday 1st December 2000 until midnight on Friday 8th December 2000 and to resume on the date that the disputed changes are imposed, which currently will be 1st January 2001.

For your information, although this additional information is not required by law, the action short of strike action during the period 1st-8th December will consist of an instruction to members that they should do the following:

• Travel to base at start time of duty and remain there unless Resources Ltd provide transport to and from the site or BBC location, at the BBC's expense. Not to accept any form of transport that requires them to incur expenditure.
• Refuse to work any turn of duty in excess if 12 hours and take an 11 hour break between turns of duty.
• Not to act up on an daily basis, that is not to do work for which they would normally receive ERR. This does not apply to work for which they receive ongoing acting pay.
• When off-duty they should not accept instructions, schedules or changes from the BBC, whether communicated by telephone, e-mail, or text message.

Yours sincerely,

Luke Crawley
Supervisory Official