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Jeremy
Dear protesting at the BBC |
NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear today condemned
plans by the BBC to axe a further 1620 jobs.
BBC Director General Mark Thompson told staff this
afternoon of the planned cuts in news, sport, nations
and regions, factual and learning, new media and
other content divisions.
The 1620 job losses follow announcements in recent
weeks of a further 1700 job losses and the privatisation
and outsourcing of other BBC departments. In all
around one in five BBC staff will be axed.
Jeremy said: “First Mark Thompson severed
the BBC's arteries with the announcement of 1700
job losses in professional services; now he is ripping
the heart out of BBC programme making.
“Throughout this whole turbulent period he
has still failed to answer the single most important
question - how can the BBC maintain the quality
and standards it is justifiably praised for whilst
axing thousands of staff?
“How can hard working staff maintain quality
whilst trying to do not only their own job but that
of thousands of their colleagues too? The inevitable
result is that staff will face burn-out whilst standards
and quality will be damaged. That will have extremely
serious consequences for BBC journalism and programme
making and the BBC’s ability to meet its charter
commitments.
"BBC staff deserve better than to be used
as political pawns in what many see as an unsavoury
and grubby deal between government and senior BBC
management. How can staff have confidence in those
who think that what is best for the BBC is to cut
20 per cent of its staff, reduce programme budgets
and hand over parts of its infrastructure to the
private sector?
"Whilst management, governors and the government
may have abandoned staff we will do everything within
our power to protect staff, stop compulsory redundancies
and ensure the BBC has the ability and resources
to fulfil its key public service role.
"Today's figures simply do not add up. They
are based on questionable assumptions and fail to
take proper regard as to how money could be saved
without axing jobs".
The BBC unions - NUJ, BECTU and AMICUS - will be
meeting with management before considering a joint
response. |
