BBC Lay Reps blog

NJC:
Jan-04	News Briefing	May-22	Pay talks start
Jan-26	Financial Presentation	May-23	Unionside meet
Feb-13	Unionside pre-meet + NJC	Jun-11	Pay talks finalised
Mar-07	Quarterly	Jun-15	Salford meeting & visit
Apr-24	Pay 2007 meeting
Leeds:		Hull:
Mar-08	Cluster Liaison	Feb-15	Cluster Liaison
Apr-18	Cluster Liaison	Apr-19	Cluster Liaison
Nottingham:		Newcastle:
Feb-20	Cluster Liaison	Feb-21	Branch meeting
		Mar-06	Local Liaison
		Apr-16	TV Liaison
		Apr-20	Cluster Liaison
Production SDC
Jan-10		May-21
Belfast:		Norwich:
Jan-11	AGM	Jan-23	uPOD discussions continue
May-15	Controller’s Liaison	Jun-08	Cluster liaison
NATIONS & REGIONS SDC:		BBC DIVISIONAL COMMITTEE:
Jan 16 - March 13 – June 5		Jan 17 - March 14 – June 6
MANCHESTER:		GLASGOW:
Feb-08	Stage Managers’ dispute	Mar-20	Value for Money talks
Apr-04	Cluster Liaison	May-24	Pacific Quay dispute
BIRMINGHAM ER HQ:		NORTHERN TUC:
Jan-31	Salary & Grading Appeals	Jan-12	Learning & Skills Forum
Mar-22	English Regions DLM	Jan-20	Regional Council
Jun-14	English Regions DLM	Apr-14	AGM
OTHER MEETINGS:
Feb-23	Skillset re Salford move	Apr-25	Bristol SON&R English Regions Strategy & Tech Day
Feb-26	Grace Wyndham Goldie Trust
March 23-25	GFTU Training Course @ Swindon on Employment Law	April 27-29	BECTU National & Divisional Conferences
March 27-30	UNI-MEI Conference Lisbon, on Europe & Digital Broadcasting Future

REPORT:

Six months dominated by several big national issues, and several divisional ones with possible pan-BBC ramifications:

• PAY – after last year’s below-inflation offer, and our grudging acceptance in the light of the License Fee negotiations and subsequent political sensitivities, there was great determination this year that despite BBC pleas of poverty after the settlement members should get a substantially better deal than last year.

After some frustrating meetings with a new Head of Employee Relations, we eventually reached what we believed was a significantly decent deal, and members agreed by voting 93% to accept. I think that the reasonableness of our arguments, and our clear determination not to be lulled into “BBC think” that an organisation with a £3.3 BILLION annual income is poor (!) resulted in a good offer.

And our powder can be kept dry for future use!

• JOBS – whatever else happens, we can be sure that Thompson’s announcement later this year on the review of BBC services
post-settlement, will mean job cuts.

After Value for Money there is huge doubt that there is much more room for voluntarism, and huge concerns that even there were, the
resulting increased demands on staff still working would be unacceptable.

Almost everything else we do is aimed at putting the unions into as strong a position as possible to face these threats when they come –
both to fight to protect as many as jobs as we can, fight for the best deals possible for members (including much greater BBC efforts to find ways of redeploying staff) and if necessary muster our industrial strength across the Corporation.

• PENSIONS – again we await a valuation, but this time with much less anxiety than before. It’s becoming clear that BBC paranoia and over-reaction came from the last valuation, and resulted in their ill-considered and unwise demands for huge increases in staff contributions. So far we have resisted such increases in both the 2006/7 and 2007/8 pay rounds, and would aim to do so again next year.

Regarding the new Career Average Scheme, we continue to fight on two fronts – opposing the concept and at all times arguing for its end, and for all BBC staff to be allowed into the Final Salary Scheme; and while it is here, fighting for the best terms and conditions within it.

NATIONAL ISSUES:

Apart from the big ones above, there are several other areas of concern we will continue to raise at NJC level :

• Recoverable expenditure – BBC’s policy of insisting on receipts for all meals continue to cause problems in all areas, but especially for staff working abroad where the policy of a daily allowance for whichever country you were working in, was discontinued summarily by the BBC. We will continue to fight for the introduction of a more equitable and sensible policy.

• The frustrating policy of allowing staff to work for long periods “acting up” and not confirmed in post is being challenged across the BBC, and given that it could have repercussions for people in any future redundancy round, we will continue to do so.

• Issues pertaining to the new online way of recording sick leave are being discussed, with particular reference to issues around managers’ access to private information.

• Concerns across all areas about the new ways of HR working on cases continue to be monitored and referred.

• The summary introduction of Pay + Promotion Guidelines to managers has been strongly criticised at NJC – although we would welcome some guidelines in an area which has hitherto been down to individual managerial whim, these ones are not good
enough!

OUT OF LONDON:

The NJC had its first official visit to Salford, saw the site where the BBC will have its building, visited the Pie Factory where Sumners currently run their independent studio operation, and discussed many elements of the move with senior BBC management. The meeting was largely positive, with the BBC seemingly open to our suggestions for increased liaison on the move, the impact on staff of distinguishing between rumour and fact, and how best to disseminate information once decisions were made.

The BBC anticipates 1500 jobs being created there – of those affected by the move, they see 45% staff relocating, 45% taking redundancy and 10% being redeployed – leaving 5% (around 800 people) to be recruited.

They stress these are “current best estimates”, and of those 800 see 475 from journalism/technical/production staff. 180 senior editorial
30 senior management, 125 administration.
Their plans evolve year by year – thusly !! (don’t blame me, they’re their terms!)

2006		2007		2008		2009		2010		2011
set up		plan + partner		pilot		transform		ready		move

BBC committed itself to earlier involvement with us on all issues but especially on those to which we could bring experience of previous moves like Mailbox and Pacific Quay, and our members’ technical and production knowledge.

We particularly stressed the importance we gave to high level training, and the BBC outlined the schemes it was working on:

• Production Apprenticeship Scheme to be run by Skillset with LimeTv, ITV and BECTU involved
• Work with all 26 universities across the North to find out what each can offer other – courses like those for journalism at Burnley College, and the media production courses at Salford and Sunderland Universities highlighted
• Talking to BBC Training Development about a Salford-based course On the key issue of Relocation, we stressed that the BBC must come up with the definitive relocation package as soon as possible so that people can start making decisions, and looking at the things (homes, schools etc) that will help them make those decisions.

We also stressed that staff will need clarity that if they choose to move there will be a job for them, and we’d want a commitment that jobs won’t be redesigned to make them unsuitable for current staff looking to move. We also asked for discussions about the new studio operations to be built – who’d run them, staff them, post-production jobs – no substance yet but naturally one to keenly watch.

ANNUAL DIVISIONAL CONFERENCE:

I have posted my report as Chair of this year’s conference, but would just like to take this opportunity to thank all those members and reps who came, making it a very well attended event; all those who took part in the vigorous but always comradely debates; all those members of the Divisional Committee who delivered area reports to Conference – an innovation I would like to continue and extend
next year; and finally all those members of staff who’ve served us so well over the year as well as at Bournemouth.

SUB-DIVISIONAL MATTERS:

• In the East, the trial of the uPod lightweight satellite vehicle continues – on the whole successfully, with good BECTU members doing most of the trial operation and reporting back regularly and effectively;
• As a consequence we reached a very good agreement about the operation of all such vehicles (uPod, COFDM and their successors) which English Regions management have almost immediately asked to re-negotiate, claiming it is “too restrictive” for them!
• We have not agreed that the standing agreement falls, but have agreed that myself and Alan Ross, Head of ER Technology, spend a day with the uPod in Cambridge and hammer out a final agreement. Needless to say, our bottom line is still the health and safety of our operators, especially when being asked to operate alone in live situations, when they are at their most vulnerable.
• The restructuring of the management teams in most regional newsrooms is complete, with a few outstanding issues in some being dealt with largely at local level, and one region (Hull) yet to appoint their Grade 11 post (although encouragingly they were the only one to board their Production Editor for the role).
• The many and varied issues surrounding BBC vehicles – speeding and parking tickets, their payment and any appeal against; log book vehicle checklists and responsibilities for checks; safety and operational problems surrounding new vehicles like Vito vans – are at various stages of being settled. The appeals issue is still being checked by the BBC.
• The “XDA” palm pilot rollout has started across regional radio newsrooms now that the problems with their Siemens server has been sorted.
• “Slice’n’Dice” – pilot rolled out across all regions, with a new grade 8 pan-BBC co-ordinator half funded by BBC Learning to help; this system of putting the best of local radio onto online has resulted in training issues which are being solved, although the implementation (without prior agreement with unions) of a new initiative called “Golden Moments” increased tensions in web areas.
• Broadcast Engineers – all but 1 person (on long-term sick leave) have now been assessed, and everyone who was on a Grade 6 has been upgraded to a 7.
• One Show – will begin full time run in autumn, but with no Regional input, and no adverse impact on regional 6.30 programmes.
• However, a successful trial of a new 1-minute 8pm bulletin on BBC-1 may result in a long-term commitment, although still unsure what the mixture of national/regional news/weather will be; this bulletin is very specifically aimed at the CDE1 audience watching at 8 who do not watch other BBC news output.
• English Regions tabled proposals for new positions to bolster performance in Sports Online, Regional Weather, and News Online – all posts won by bidding for new money. Still under discussion but clearly we welcome investment in new jobs.

REPRESENTATION:

I continue to sit on several external organisations, sometimes officially representing BECTU, but always with my union hat not too far away and clearly visible to all :
• Northern TUC (and their Learning & Skills Committee)
• Northern Film + Media main Board, Remuneration Panel and Funding Panel (the Regional Screen Agency)
• Culture North East Executive (the Regional Cultural Consortium)
• BECTU has requested that I be our representative on the BBC’s Salford People Development Group which will look at issues of training and development

MARK SCRIMSHAW

Chair BBC Divisional Committee