Staff unions, including the NUJ, Bectu and Unite, had told the BBC it could avoid coordinated strike action by a total of five unions if it agreed to protect the value of pensions and drop plans to change the staff pension scheme.
But in talks with the unions the BBC refused to back down, claiming it would carry out a 90-day consultation where they would hold more than 120 face to face sessions with senior managers. It also plans to host a live phone in and TV programme to enable staff to voice concerns.
The proposals put forward by the BBC in June included plans to place a one per cent cap on increases in pensionable salary and to close the final-salary scheme to new joiners.
Following the announcements the NUJ and other BBC staff unions met with members to discuss the issue. Jeremy Dear, NUJ general secretary said in a release today that the initial reaction illustrates their anger.
"I've never witnessed such anger at a BBC proposal," he said. "People feel betrayed by the BBC’s broken promises on pensions and the reaction we got this morning demonstrated that BBC management needs to withdraw the proposals, sit down with the unions and negotiate a fair resolution to the pensions deficit or face determined industrial action."
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