Some of the BBC’s biggest TV events of the autumn - including the Last Night of the Proms could be taken off the air by strike action over proposed cuts to the corporation’s pension scheme, the broadcasting unions have threatened.
Gerry Morrissey, the general secretary of the broadcasting union Bectu, said that other targets for the strikes which could begin as early as September 9 - would be the party conferences and sporting events.
The co ordinated strike threat was issued yesterday from five unions with members at the BBC - Bectu, the National Union of Journalists, Unite, Equity and the Musicians’ Union. Their leaders had met at NUJ headquarters in London in advance of a meeting with BBC executives over pensions tomorrow.
Last month, the BBC started a 90 day consultation on proposals to make deep cuts to its “gold plated” defined benefit pension scheme, which could finally save it £50million a year in contributions.
One of the proposals is to cap pensionable earnings growth at 1 per cent a year, which is significantly less than the predicted rate of inflation. Because the cap applies to pensions based on years already worked as well as those from future earnings, the unions have called it a “pensions robbery”.
Mr Morrissey said: “Previously earned pensions are non negotiable. We are asking the BBC to withdraw this gun from our heads. Our members want us to make a stand long before these 90 days are up.”
Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the NUJ, said: “While managers can look forward to gold plated pensions, thousands of BBC staff will be left significantly worse off in retirement. The BBC has broken its promises to staff and is undermining the value of people’s pensions. The BBC must withdraw these proposals or face the prospect of widespread strike action and industrial unrest over the coming months.”
The unions say that they have been mandated to ballot for strike action by union meetings over the last three weeks at BBC premises across the country. “I’ve never been at such an angry, crowded meeting as I was the other week,” said one BBC staffer. “This isn’t about wanting more money. It’s about being lied to by managers who are becoming less and less transparent with their intentions, while at the same time offering up ridiculous token gestures like the two months’ salary cut for execs.”
The unions have asked for “a guarantee by 21 July that the value of pensions already earned would be protected”. Mr Morrissey said that otherwise ballot papers could be sent out as early as August 5, with the ballot closing on September 1 and the first possible strike date being September 9.
The Last Night of the Proms is on September 11, by which time the Premiership football season will also be in full swing.
The last BBC strike was in 2005, when services which rely heavily on live programmes such as Radio 4 and BBC News 24 were severely disrupted.
A BBC management source said yesterday that 150 face to face meetings are being planned between management and staff about the pensions changes, and that there will also be a live phone in for staff to air their concerns.
“We know that staff have concerns about the proposed changes to the pension scheme, and we will listen and try to address these during the consultation period,” said a BBC spokesman.
The unions have also not accepted the BBC’s “final” pay offer, which calls for a pay freeze for staff earning £37,726 or more, and a flat rate pay rise of £475 a year for lower paid workers. Mr Morrissey said, “Pensions is the biggest issue, but the pay offer has been equally rejected”.
The co ordinated strike threat was issued yesterday from five unions with members at the BBC - Bectu, the National Union of Journalists, Unite, Equity and the Musicians’ Union. Their leaders had met at NUJ headquarters in London in advance of a meeting with BBC executives over pensions tomorrow.
Last month, the BBC started a 90 day consultation on proposals to make deep cuts to its “gold plated” defined benefit pension scheme, which could finally save it £50million a year in contributions.
One of the proposals is to cap pensionable earnings growth at 1 per cent a year, which is significantly less than the predicted rate of inflation. Because the cap applies to pensions based on years already worked as well as those from future earnings, the unions have called it a “pensions robbery”.
Mr Morrissey said: “Previously earned pensions are non negotiable. We are asking the BBC to withdraw this gun from our heads. Our members want us to make a stand long before these 90 days are up.”
Jeremy Dear, the general secretary of the NUJ, said: “While managers can look forward to gold plated pensions, thousands of BBC staff will be left significantly worse off in retirement. The BBC has broken its promises to staff and is undermining the value of people’s pensions. The BBC must withdraw these proposals or face the prospect of widespread strike action and industrial unrest over the coming months.”
The unions say that they have been mandated to ballot for strike action by union meetings over the last three weeks at BBC premises across the country. “I’ve never been at such an angry, crowded meeting as I was the other week,” said one BBC staffer. “This isn’t about wanting more money. It’s about being lied to by managers who are becoming less and less transparent with their intentions, while at the same time offering up ridiculous token gestures like the two months’ salary cut for execs.”
The unions have asked for “a guarantee by 21 July that the value of pensions already earned would be protected”. Mr Morrissey said that otherwise ballot papers could be sent out as early as August 5, with the ballot closing on September 1 and the first possible strike date being September 9.
The Last Night of the Proms is on September 11, by which time the Premiership football season will also be in full swing.
The last BBC strike was in 2005, when services which rely heavily on live programmes such as Radio 4 and BBC News 24 were severely disrupted.
A BBC management source said yesterday that 150 face to face meetings are being planned between management and staff about the pensions changes, and that there will also be a live phone in for staff to air their concerns.
“We know that staff have concerns about the proposed changes to the pension scheme, and we will listen and try to address these during the consultation period,” said a BBC spokesman.
The unions have also not accepted the BBC’s “final” pay offer, which calls for a pay freeze for staff earning £37,726 or more, and a flat rate pay rise of £475 a year for lower paid workers. Mr Morrissey said, “Pensions is the biggest issue, but the pay offer has been equally rejected”.
