New jobs for old as BBC members vote
THE NUMBER of BBC journalists to lose their jobs compulsorily in the current round of redundancies could be in the low double figures.
The BBC wants to get rid of 1,800 posts and the unions have been in intensive negotiations to chip away at the total.
A deal was reached in January that stipulates that new jobs will be found for one in eight of those to go.
Members were voting on it as the Journalist went to press and were expected to accept it.
The current number of compulsory redundancies was reckoned to be around 250 across the corporation as the ballot papers went out and was expected to fall even further.
BBC News could be left with only a dozen compulsory redundancies to find, despite more than 400 posts being axed in the division.
NUJ Broadcasting Organiser Paul McLaughlin said: “We’ve been in some very tough negotiations with the BBC but this agreement follows significant movement by the corporation on all the issues that are in dispute.”
The unions held a ballot for strike action against the redundancies over the new year.
That ballot — expected to have shown a big “yes” vote — has never been counted, and was put aside when the provisional deal was reached.