Big conversation with BECTU
BECTU has agreed to open negotiations over Big Conversation initiatives.
BBC Director General Greg Dyke's Big Conversation was a series of initiatives made last month (June 2003) in an internal presentation to staff.
Proposals to be discussed will include flexible working, flexi-leave and changes to childcare provision.
All of these have contractual implications, and will need to be agreed by the unions before being implemented.
One key change outlined by the DG - flexible working patterns being on offer to all staff, not just parents - was a direct response to a claim submitted by the unions earlier this year.
A new law introduced in April gives workers who care for children younger than six a right to ask for changes in their days or hours, and to be given a written explanation if their requests are refused.
In discussions about implementation of the new legislation at the BBC, BECTU and the NUJ asked for the new right to be extended to all staff, quoting as examples cases where people care for elderly parents or partners with disabilities.
While flexible working is likely to be uncontroversial, there could be lively debate with management about flexi-leave, a system where staff would be able to buy or sell leave.
The unions have already warned that there could be health and safety problems if some staff were tempted into selling back large amounts of leave for straight cash, and are also concerned that staff who want to save leave for long sabbaticals should be reminded about the existing system of long service leave and career breaks.
Childcare improvements are expected to be less controversial, since the Big Conversation proposal will give all parents a degree of sup- port for caring costs, while leaving the current network of workplace nurseries intact.
One other proposal due to be discussed with unions is the overhaul of the BBC's staff appraisal system - long overdue in the eyes of many union representatives who have criticised the management's inability to deliver an annual appraisal to all staff ever since the current system was launched in 1995.
Most of the changes announced in Dyke's Big Conversation are due to be implemented in late 2003 or early 2004, leaving plenty of time for negotiations.