BBC journalists to strike on Friday

Journalists at the BBC are to strike on Friday 15 July over compulsory redundancies.

The NUJ has called for urgent talks with the corporation to resolve the threat of compulsory redundancies for the small number of outstanding cases and for the reinstatement of a member dismissed in the BBC World Service.

Industrial action will go ahead if the BBC fail to address these issues.

NUJ general secretary Michelle Stanistreet said: “We know that there are hundreds of people who want to leave the BBC and who have been denied that chance.

“Yet at the same time people are now being targeted and forced out of the door …

“This unprecedented attack and threat to the livelihoods of NUJ members now and in the immediate future is a direct result of the licence fee deal done behind closed doors by the BBC Executive in 2010.

“We believe that the BBC’s resources should be spent on protecting core journalism and programming for audiences. This means prioritising its staff…

“It is not right that people are being forced into compulsory redundancy in the BBC World Service in the UK when an extra £2.2 million has been granted by the Foreign Office for the next three years to mitigate the cuts.

“Whilst journalists are bearing the impact of these cuts, the BBC is not acting to properly tackle the major problem of excessive executive pay – salaries at the top of the BBC are a staggering 21.5 times the median salary and 47 times the lowest salary”.