February 21, 2013

NUJ hoping talks with new director general Tony Hall will prevent second strike

The National Union of Journalists is hoping talks with new BBC director general Tony Hall will prevent another corporation-wide journalist strike.

A spokesperson told Press Gazette that if an agreement is not reached the NUJ may decide on another strike when it re-ballots members and could work in collaboration with other unions.

The last ballot, in which members voted in favour of a strike took, place in early December and it expires later this month.

The “overwhelming majority” of 4,000 NUJ members at the BBC were involved in Monday’s strike, which saw programmes such as the Today programme, Newsnight and several BBC News bulletins cancelled.

The strike was organised by the union in protest at 30 proposed compulsory editorial redundancies. The NUJ also objected to the fact that while its members were facing compulsory redundancies, the corporation was advertising job vacancies.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet described the industrial action as a “huge success”.

Stanistreet said: “We have made a simple request of the BBC – together with the joint unions Bectu and Unite.

“We want a six-month moratorium on the DQF [Deliver Quality First] cuts. We want time to assess the damage these cuts are having on journalism and programming and we want to ensure there is adequate time to make sure any redundancies are voluntary.

“This discussion needs to be had with the incoming director general – we need real leadership from the top of the BBC to address the problems that are resulting in clear industrial problems.

"In the meantime the NUJ work-to-rule continues and we will begin preparations to re-ballot members as the current ballot expires later this month.”