11. 05. 2005

BBC JOURNALISTS ON STRIKE

LONDON, May 11, 2005 – BBC journalists have decided to go on strike due to the management’s resolution to cut down the number of employees by 20 percent. Around 84 percent of the BBC workers, members of the National Journalists’ Union, have voted for the strike, said the Union Secretary-General, Jeremy Dir. The strike is just the result of a great anger caused by the decision of the BBC CEO Mark Thomson to sack one fifth of the employees, said Dir. The National Journalists’ Union will meet on Thursday with two other unions of BBC, “Amicus” and “BECTU”, with the aim to come up with the plan for further action. According to the statement, the unions will “appeal again to the BBC to stop rejecting the meaningful talks with the unions”, since it would be “the last attempt to avoid the need for going on strike”. BBC plans to cut down the number of employees by 4000 in the next three years (the public service is currently employing around 21 thousand people), with the aim to save 355 million pounds. However, since the law obliges the unions to announce the planned activity to employer respectfully, the strike could not commence before May 19. BBC however did not want to comment on the announced protest.