STORY
The BBC could face industrial action as staff consider their response to a proposed pay increase and plans for substantial job reductions. Director General Matt Brittin acknowledged that strikes were a genuine possibility during a call with employees.
The corporation has offered an average pay increase of 2.1 per cent while seeking approximately £500 million of savings by 2028. As many as 2,000 posts could be affected by the reductions, although the eventual number and location of compulsory redundancies have not been confirmed. Staff representatives argue that the pay proposal does not adequately reflect living costs or the pressure created by restructuring.
BBC management says its financial options are severely constrained after a prolonged decline in licence fee income and pressure upon its commercial revenue. Brittin reportedly told employees that every additional one per cent awarded in general pay would cost approximately the equivalent of 180 jobs. No strike has yet been called and any industrial action would require the relevant union procedures and ballots.