Category: BBC
Date: 13.04.2005
Printable version
The BBC Director-General met yesterday afternoon with representatives
of the BBC's recognised Trade Unions (BECTU, NUJ, AMICUS) to discuss
the BBC's plans for change.
The purpose of the meeting was to explain more of the detail of the BBC's plans and for the Director-General to listen to the union's concerns and ideas, exploring ways to achieve the best outcome for staff and the BBC.
The BBC outlined the difficult challenges the BBC faces and the Corporation's
strategy for meeting these challenges.
The BBC explained that the three year plan of efficiencies, savings
and different ways of working would mean the Corporation could put an
extra £355m a year into programmes from 2008.
At the same time, it would achieve its goal of transforming into a state of the art digital broadcaster, with a bold new programme and content strategy based around excellence.
The BBC explained why it couldn't meet what it considered were unrealistic demands from the unions but told them that it nevertheless wished to continue to discuss the detailed plans within each BBC division.
The BBC stressed that it has every intention of working with the unions to address staff concerns, whilst needing to make changes to meet its audience's changing needs and demands and to achieve greater value for money for licence fee payers.
The BBC recognised, as did the unions, that this was a
difficult and anxious time for staff, and that it was very mindful of
the human consequences of the changes it proposed.
The BBC made it clear that it would do everything it
could to mitigate the effects on staff of the job losses, but this could
only be achieved by continuing dialogue and consultation with the unions.
The Corporation reiterated that because it was proposing
a three year change plan, it anticipated that a large proportion of
the job losses would be achieved though staff turnover and voluntary
redundancy. However, the BBC was not able to rule out compulsory redundancies.
The BBC believes it is a matter of real regret that
the union representatives have chosen not to continue with what we believe
could have been a constructive and meaningful dialogue, as we believe
our staff want early clarity on what the change plans mean for them.
We regret the unions' decision to ballot their members
for industrial action. Any action which affected the BBC's services
would inevitably penalise licence fee payers.
