BBC News thrown into chaos as strike hits
By Peter Wozniak
A planned 48-hour strike by members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has gone ahead today, disrupting many BBC News programmes.
BBC Breakfast survived the walk-out by NUJ members, but the Today programme did not escape cancellation.
The union said it had been “left with no choice” but to go ahead with the industrial action over the dispute about pension schemes at the BBC.
“The BBC have proposed ripping up the current pension arrangements and replacing them with a pension scheme that will see staff paying more in contributions and working longer and getting less in retirement,” read a statement on the NUJ website.
“As a result, NUJ members have been left with no choice but to strike to defend their financial futures.”
The industrial action is the first of two planned strikes to take place to prevent pensionable salary increases being capped at one per cent.
The BBC’s offer to reduce payments into the pension scheme from seven per cent to six per cent was rejected by the 4,100 NUJ members at the corporation.
In response to the disruption, the BBC is being forced to show pre-recorded programmes to compensate for the disruption.
The next industrial action is scheduled for 48 hours from November 15th.
Previous NUJ strikes over pensions had been planned during the party conference season and the spending review, prompting many high-profile BBC journalists to call for their cancellation to spare the corporation’s reputation of impartiality.
