STRIKE SUSPENDED!

Great news for all concerned.  

The NUJ has suspended next Monday’s strike action following assurance from management that they will delay the issue of compulsory redundancy notices to our members giving us more time to negotiate redeployment opportunities for them. Here’s the joint statement from the NUJ and Bectu:

 As a result of discussions this week the number of potential redundancies has been reduced and the BBC has agreed a further period of time in the expectation that negotiations will be concluded successfully with no compulsory redundancies of members.

We have therefore agreed to suspend the action planned for the 26th February 2007. This means that there will be no strike on Monday at the BBC.

The Joint Unions have indicated that, if necessary, they would consider industrial action at a later date over this matter, however we are hopeful that this will not now prove necessary.

The readiness of both Unions to take strike action to defend our members’ position has again shown this can produce positive results. Management have also worked hard, to reduce the outstanding job losses.

Thank you to all our members for their strength in recent weeks, particularly in the face of unprecendented management pressure.

And as News24 FoC Nick Serpell says: “Mark Thompson has already made it clear he will be back in the autumn with more job cuts.

“In the meantime you can be comfortable in knowing that your resolve has protected fellow members. We will need that resolve again in the not too distant future.”