Siemens make first move to shake up BBCT
IT staff in the ex-BBC Technology London call centre could be moved to Durham or Bristol by new owners Siemens.
At a meeting with BECTU representatives, Siemens Business Services revealed that 59 staff would be affected by the closure of the White City centre, which provides first line telephone support for users on the BBC's computer network.
Some of their work is due to be transferred to an existing Siemens centre in Durham, with the remainder being taken on by the 24-hour call centre inherited from BBC Technology in Bristol.
Although the move came as bad news to members affected, Siemens had indicated even before signing the deal to buy BBC Technology that a move to Durham was on the cards. The union has welcomed the company's willingness to abide by the guarantees given to ex-BBCT staff at the time of the sale.
In particular, these promise that no ex-BBCT staff will be required to move out of the town or city where they are currently based, and that there would be no compulsory redundancies for 12 months from October 2004.
Staff in the call centre are therefore protected from enforced moves to Durham or Bristol, and cannot leave, except on a volluntary basis, until October 2005.
Options for staff affected by the closure are: a transfer to Durham or Bristol with full BBC resettlement benefits; redeployment in London, most probably on other Siemens contracts; or redundancy on the BBC's severance payment formula between October 2005 and March 2006, by when the change will have been completed.
Support for BBC desktop users is expected to go live in Durham in the third quarter of 2005, with locally-recruited staff if nobody wants to move from London.
BECTU is confident that Siemens Business Services will engage in full and detailed negotiations about the move, based on the union's initial three months' experience of the company.
The shake-up of the White City call centre could be just the first of a series of cost-saving measures Siemens will have to adopt to meet the promise it made to the BBC of annual technology savings of £37 million pa, on a bill that was roughly £200m in Technology's last year as a wholly-owned subsidiary.