BBC concedes to union demands

The threat of industrial action ballots being run today has been lifted following the BBC suspending its voluntary redundancy trawl.

This follows yesterday's meeting of BECTU, the NUJ and Unite, when representatives voted to issue an ultimatum to BBC management after hearing details of proposals which could cut up to 2,600 jobs.

After an emergency meeting of the BBC's Executive Board this morning, the joint unions learned that the Corporation has withdrawn its plans to start an immediate trawl for voluntary redundancies.

The BBC, in a letter to the unions, has also responded positively to the request for discussions on a national framework agreement but has set a tight timescale of two weeks to conclude the first stage of talks.

Gerry Morrissey, BECTU's General Secretary said: "We are pleased Mark Thompson and the board have seen sense and are honouring the joint unions' existing national agreement to consult the unions.

"We called for meaningful consultation and welcome the commitment to reach a framework agreement which will pave the way for divisional level talks. There are several issues in the letter which cause us concern but we would expect to address those at the national level talks."

The BBC has said it will postpone sending out letters asking for staff to come forward for voluntary redundancy for a period of two weeks.

This will allow talks to take place to agree a national framework covering a number of issues including redeployment and training for staff facing the threat of redundancy. The national framework will ensure that there is consistency within the process across the corporation.

The joint unions wrote to the BBC yesterday afternoon outlining its response to Director General Mark Thompson's six-year plant.

The unions made it clear it they were gravely concerned that the quality of the BBC's output would be compromised by the high number of cuts across all departments, and that the joint unions' agreement with the corporation had been run rough-shod over.