Ballot gives BBC jobs deal the nod

NUJ members at the BBC have voted to accept the agreement reached in January that ends the protracted dispute over jobs.

The BBC is trying to axe 2,500 jobs and force through other changes affecting staff allowances and pension entitlements.

The deal, which lifts the imminent threat of compulsory redundancies, has been approved by members of the three BBC unions in a postal ballot.

But union reps have vowed to keep up the pressure to avoid the prospect of compulsory redundancies. A meeting after the ballot result agreed that the BBC had “become an increasingly stressful working environment as a direct result of job losses ... Workloads have increased substantially for many members, in some cases to an ­unacceptable level.

“This meeting confirms the NUJ’s policy to oppose any compulsory ­redundancies by all possible means including a ballot throughout the NUJ’s BBC membership for industrial action.”

The Journalist is published by the National Union of Journalists