BBC News strike

When you say there are 'a LOT worse then her', are you basing that on your opinion of her as a newsreader, or do you know her personally.

I could be temped to make a Natasha joke at this junction; but I will keep 'em sealed....

It shouldn't effect things on Monday at all, the 48 hour strike starts at midnight on Tuesday and goes on until Midnight on Thursday

The trouble with further strikes is that public support dwindles even further.

Whether people agree with their actions or not, I think the majority of people are at least aware of the reasons for the first strike and the point the unions are trying to get across - but the longer they go on support will decrease rapidly.

Did this strike ever have any 'public support'?

Except in News and the Nations where two thirds of staff were on strike, and the Engish regions where over half were out.

Although the strike is aimed at BBC management, not the public. Obviously there is some effect on licence fee payers but it's not exactly life or death, is it?



I disagree. I think people think it's all about BBC staff trying to keep their jobs, whereas it's much more complicated than that.

quite. its a shame the unions havent managed to communicate the wider reasons for the strike to the public.

Let's not hide behind the truth- the main thrust of the strikes is about job cuts.

BBC people are remarkably loyal (many join training paths young and never working anywhere else)- but this also means they're incredibly sheltered from the big bad world out there....a constantly rising licence fee, guaranteed money to pay the workforce etc.

But job cuts and efficiency drives are part of everyday life for every other industry, and indeed the rest of the media sector- the BBC employees have had it good for a long, long time. The organsation has ballooned to a staggering size, but failure to act now will jeopardise the future of public service, advertisement-free, high quality broadcasting in this country. Failure to act now and put more money in delivering quality programming for the real employers (every licence fee payer) will kill the BBC.

The issues relating to the privatisation of BBC Broadcast are again part of everyday life in every other industry- the BBC has to show a degree of commercial awareness (e.g. just like the drive for more independent programme commissions)- the privatisation of BBC Broadcast is part of that responsibility.

As for individuals and their pensions- really....hate to say it again, but job movements are everyday occurences in the big bad real world. Companies buy companies. People get switched around- only a minority get trully screwed. Pensions normally get transferred under largely the same terms- in fact I would expect the BBC HR department to sort this out with whoever takes over BBC Broadcast (the HR department is more than big enough after all!).

It was meant to be a "BBC-wide" strike.

62% of BBC employees turned up to work- in most peoples' books, that's a pretty poor strike result.

Very few programmes were actually cancelled, and they'll be much more preparation and ideas on who will work ahead of the next strike.

What I don't understand is the BBC's explanation that BBC Resources is "not part of the BBC's core business."
A company which owns studios, equipment, costumes and wigs, and outside broadcast facilities. And this is less useful to a broadcasting organisation than a magazine publshing business.

This makes sense how ?

That's the figure given by the BBC, but I wouldn't call 6,500 people a "poor result".



I understand what you mean by that, but it was a strike voted for by the members of BECTU, the NUJ and AMICUS, and the majority of union members due to work on Monday were on strike.



Is it? Why? Has the BBC said it will save any money by selling BBC Broadcast? Do you mind £500m of your licence fee being spent on moving staff to Manchester?

I don't think many BBC staff actively enjoy participating in industrial action, but when you see senior BBC managers refusing to even use the word "negotiate", it's very difficult to see how else to make a stand against Mark Thompson's devastating plans for the dismantling of the BBC.