Monday 1 August 2011

NUJ strike action at BBC and in South Yorkshire


NUJ members at the BBC have today started a second 24 hour strike action against compulsory redundancies while industrial action is continuing at South Yorkshire Newspapers over job cuts.

A work to rule will start when the BBC journalists return to work on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, NUJ members in South Yorkshire are continuing an indefinite strike action which started on Friday 15 July against job cuts at the Johnston-Press owned Doncaster Free Press, The South Yorkshire Times, The Selby Times and The Epworth Bells.

The NUJ is calling on management to enter into conciliation talks with ACAS to resolve the dispute. The union has requested a meeting with the new CEO of Johnston Press Ashley Highfield to discuss the future of the newspaper group and for him "to bring forward a new focus and commitment to quality and resources".

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: "NUJ members across the UK are fighting for the future of our profession. Job losses are disastrous for quality journalism and democracy in the UK. Management should stop the job cuts and get round the table with the NUJ."

The BBC said: "We are disappointed that the NUJ has gone ahead with today's strike and apologise to our audience for any disruption to services. Industrial action does not alter the fact that the BBC is faced with a number of potential compulsory redundancies following significant cuts to the central Government grants that support the World Service and BBC Monitoring.

"We will continue with our efforts to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies, however, the number of posts that we are having to close means that unfortunately it is likely to be impossible for us to avoid some compulsory redundancies."

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