BBC shot

Plans to reform terms and conditions for new staff in April will now not go ahead, pending a review by the broadcaster

Credit: By Coffee Lover on Flickr. Some rights reserved.

A dispute between the BBC and several unions over the date for implementation of terms and conditions applied to new staff has been resolved.

The BBC has agreed to delay the planned start date for the new terms from 1 April to 31 December 2012, saying that reform of unpredictable hours and flexibility arrangements being a "complex issue" requiring "more time to resolve".

According to the National Union of Journalists, all proposed changes to staff terms and conditions will now be negotiated as part of a major review by the broadcaster in 2012.

The agreement avoids planned strikes by the three unions involved in the dispute: the NUJ, broadcast union Bectu, and Unite. A strike ballot was begun by the joint unions last month but has now been called off.

Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the NUJ, said: "Thanks to the steadfast and determined response of NUJ members and our sister unions, common sense has prevailed at the BBC. All proposals relating to changes to staff terms and conditions will now be negotiated in one strategic review over the course of the coming year.

"Union members across the BBC will continue to robustly defend their rights to collective bargaining and their hard-fought terms and conditions. Vitally, it also shows how staff at the BBC are prepared to stand up and defend the rights of future staff, they won’t allow the BBC management to employ divisive tactics.

"This agreement is of course not the end of the battle. The broader cuts announced under the so-called Delivering Quality First programme include proposals to cut jobs and services that will seriously dilute quality journalism and programming at the BBC and threaten the very future of the corporation as an internationally-respected public service broadcaster. At the same time, the perks and hugely excessive pay of senior BBC executives are largely ringfenced.

"Our public and parliamentary campaign, to revisit the licence fee settlement and to fight these wrong-headed cuts, will now intensify as we demonstrate to the BBC Trust and the BBC board that staff and the broader public are prepared to fight to save our BBC."

The BBC's statement reads: "The BBC and joint unions have reached an agreement in principle to resolve the current dispute about implementation dates for proposed changes to terms and conditions of employment.

"This has been on the basis that the BBC extends the proposed implementation dates for changes to new starter terms and conditions from 1st April to 31st December 2012.

"This is in recognition of the fact that reform of UPA/Flexibility allowances is a complex issue and will require more time to resolve. All parties recognise these allowances need reform but want to ensure they have sufficient time to consider all the options."

At a meeting of BBC union reps, the mothers and fathers of chapels at the broadcaster welcomed the delay of plans for new terms and conditions, which they said "would have led to new joiners at the corporation being employed on much worse terms than existing staff".
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