Broadcasting unions give notice of BBC strikes

The NUJ, BECTU and Unite have today announced a further programme of meetings with members to discuss new pension proposals from the BBC, while also giving formal notice of a number of strike dates.
Joint union meetings will start on Monday 20 September and will be held at key BBC sites. The BBC has been served with notice of strike action on 5 & 6 October – which coincides with the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
After today’s union side talks, notice of action on two additional dates – 19 & 20 October – will also be served. Notice served for action on 20 & 21 September will be withdrawn to allow the unions to consult with their members
Senior management propose that BBC staff now consider:

• Becoming deferred members of their current final salary scheme in order to inflation-proof their accrued benefits-
• Joining a new career average scheme to build up future pension entitlement based on an employee contribution of 7% (the existing career average scheme is based on employee contributions of 4%)
• An accrual rate of 1/60th per year of service- a retirement age of 65.

Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary, said: “The BBC's continued insistence that staff pay much more for significantly worse benefits is unacceptable. We will be taking the union’s case for fair pensions to a series of members’ meetings across the UK. If the BBC fails to listen to the continued anger of staff at these unacceptable pensions changes we will be left with no choice but to strike to stop the pensions robbery"