One week left in BBCT ballot
An industrial action vote among BECTU members in BBC Technology closes next Friday.
The ballot was called after the company's management refused to give guarantees to staff about their terms, job security, and pensions, if BBCT is sold off, as planned, on September 1.
BBC Technology also blocked BECTU's efforts to keep the company as a wholly-owned BBC subsidiary by refusing publicly to reveal a secret cuts plan drawn up by managers last year in a bid to head off privatisation.
BECTU officials believe that the annual savings of £20-30 million which the BBC hopes privatisation will bring could be achieved in-house without the need for a sale.
However, any bid to argue this case depends on getting access to the detailed data in the company's own cuts plan, code-named project LEO. BBCT management caused a furore by revealing that although the union was not allowed open access to the plan, it had been given to both final bidders in the privatisation contest.
Union negotiators have also expressed anger at the announcememt of the September 1 sell-off date. If the sale goes ahead that day, the union will have had as little as 3 or 4 weeks to discuss terms and conditions with the preferred bidder prior to staff being given one month's notice of any changes.
BBC management say that the final preferred bidder, either Accenture/BT or Siemens, will be announced in week beginning July 5, just before the industrial action ballot closes on July 9.
Another ballot is being run among members in BBC News, where management say that staff involved in "non-broadcast critical" IT - roughly 25% of all information technology activity in News - will be handed to the new owner of BBC Technology.
BECTU has challenged the selection process that management intend using to identify staff who would be transferred, which has been criticised as random and unfair. News management, like BBC Technology, have refused to give guarantees about terms and conditions, and are unable to specify exactly who their ditched staff would be working for. The News IT ballot closes on July 14.
In another development, members working in the TV playout area of BBC Technology, responsible for getting all the BBC's channels on-air, have been included in the industrial action ballot, even though they may be transferred into BBC Broadcast later in the year.
Resistance to the sale off BBCT, and the anger and uncertainty among the workforce, had clearly reached the ears of new BBC Director-General Mark Thompson by the time he addressed all staff on June 22, his first day at the Corporation.
He made a point of referring explicity to the potential sell-off, and while sticking to the party line that the privatisation was a good idea, he indicated that he was "willing to listen" to concerns about the plan. BECTU has now conveyed some key arguments against the sell-off directly to the new DG.
The government is also due to hear BECTU's views on the sell-off, and is expected to contact the union once the BBC makes a formal application for the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport to approve the sale.
Earlier this week BECTU wrote officially to Culture Minister Tessa Jowell, outlining both the predicament of staff affected by the sale, who have no guarantees about their futures just weeks before the deadline, and the financial and strategic risks to the BBC if the sell-off goes ahead.
Since BBCT's privatisation was announced last November, the union has emphasised that the company's own market research had indicated that many of its prices were competitive with the commercial market, and that a significant proportion of the projected savings expected after a sell-off will in fact be generated by cuts in the volume of services the BBC will buy in the future.
DCMS will be warned about the operational risk to channels and programme-makers within the BBC if a private company is given monopoly control of every signal chain in and out of BBC Broadcast, as well as full responsibility for the BBC's broadcast continuity plans in the event of an emergency.
Letter sent to BBC Technology members
Dear ColleagueINDUSTRIAL ACTION BALLOT
BECTU members in BBC Technology Ltd are being balloted for industrial action. Enclosed with this letter is a ballot paper and BECTU is recommending you to vote YES. This letter will explain why we have taken this step and importance of voting YES in the ballot.
When I last wrote to you it had become clear that the BBC and BBC Technology were refusing to allow any negotiations on the protection of your terms, conditions, pension and continued employment. The reason they gave for refusing to discuss our claim was that they were still involved in discussions with different bidders and, in their words, "everything was up for negotiation". They also admitted that some or all of the staff in BBCT could transferred out of the company into a sub-contractor.
As you know BECTU has been opposed to the sale from the very first announcement but in order to protect your rights we have demanded that BBCT agree that there would be no changes to your terms and conditions for at least three years from the point of sale or transfer of staff - this has been refused because of the negotiations with the different bidders.
We also asked for a guarantee that there should be a final salary pension scheme and that it should be protected for the same period - this was refused. We asked for a guarantee that your pay rises would be at least RPI plus 2.5% - this was refused. Finally, because the BBC claimed that the sale would prevent the loss of jobs, we asked for a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies for three years - this was refused. BBC Technology told us that we would have to take these matters up with the BBC so we asked them to discuss theses issues - they refused!
So with 10 weeks until 1st September, the date set for the sale, there are no guarantees of any kind in place. The BBC has said that negotiations can only begin when the successful bidder is identified on 5th July. That is only 26 days from 31st July when you will be given notice of the sale or transfer of BBCT and all of its staff.
Given that the outcome of any negotiations are still unclear, this means that the BBC is prepared to sell the company regardless of the conclusion of any talks. Such a brief window for negotiations is unacceptable and is made worse by the fact that many members will be away on holiday when we need to consult with them.
We have asked BBCT and the BBC to move the date of the sale to 31st October and they have refused. It is for these reasons that we are asking you to vote YES to industrial action in this ballot. It is only by doing so that we can force the company to address these issues which are of vital concern to our members.
If there is a majority for industrial action we will be asking you to take strike action.
We are also writing to the Department of Culture Music and Sport expressing our concerns at the way this matter is being stampeded through without proper consultation and asking that they withhold permission from the BBC to sell or transfer staff, until proper discussions have taken place with BECTU on behalf of its members.
BECTU has been trying to get BBCT to provide details of Project Leo which we believe would have made significant savings in costs and possibly allowed BBCT to remain part of the BBC.
At the latest meeting on June 14th BBCT management revealed that although they had shown the full details of Project Leo to both of the remaining bidders they would not show it to BECTU as it would be "too upsetting" to the staff. This means that whoever is the new owner, Accenture or Siemens, has a job by job list of redundancies to achieve the savings required by the BBC and to generate profits for their shareholders. Further details are on: BECTU's website
In my previous letters I have touched upon some of the legal difficulties around taking industrial action. The advice from our solicitors is clear that any attempt to take industrial action over the sale of BBCT or the TUPE transfer of staff to a sub-contractor would be illegal.
However it is legal to have a 'trade dispute' over the timetable for negotiations over the proposal, and the refusal to address our claim for protection of your terms, conditions and employment.
BECTU is urging you to vote YES because by doing so you can demonstrate your anger at the way you have been treated by BBC Technology and at the failure of BBCT and the BBC to stand by its fine words on looking after staff and protecting their terms, conditions and employment.
Please complete the ballot paper immediately and return it in the envelope provided to the ERBS at 33 Clarendon Road, London N8 0NW and in any event not later than 12 noon on Friday 9th July.
According to our records you are an employee of BBC Technology Ltd if this is not the case please can you email [email protected].
Yours sincerely,
Luke Crawley
Supervisory Official