Vote now in online ITV petition

BECTU branches threatened with jobs cuts after the Carlton/Granada merger are urging supporters to register an online protest.

More than 500 jobs are at risk in the Midlands, and South of England, as the new integrated ITV company abandons production in many of its regional centres to cut costs.

Members are being asked to cast votes in an online poll organised by industry magazine Broadcast, on its website: www.broadcastnow.co.uk (Voting buttons are at bottom of left sidebar).

The online poll comes in the same week that Westminster MPs decided to team up with BECTU and the NUJ to raise public and political awareness of the effect that the ITV merger is having on regional programme-making.

Supportive politicians from all parties met union members from all 15 ITV licence areas at a Parliamentary lobby on March 23. Almost 30 MPs pledged their support for a campaign to resist the centralisation of all the company's production in London, Manchester and Leeds.

Speakers at a meeting run alongside the lobby included Tony Lloyd MP, Frank Doran MP, and Scottish SMP Angus Robertson. An Early Day Motion condemning the centralisation of ITV has won more than 70 supporters so far.