Unions representing BBC workers have warned that a strike within weeks is inevitable if Mark Thompson, the director general, presses ahead with plans for the largest number of compulsory redundancies in the corporation's history. Mr Thompson will tell the BBC Trust today that 2,000 employees — almost a tenth of the workforce — will be sacked in an attempt to find £2 billion in budget cuts. He will make a public announcement of the plans tomorrow.BBC journalists and production staff gathered outside Broadcasting House in London today to lobby BBC Trust members as they arrived for a meeting to finalise plans to plug the funding shortfall. The action came as BBC inside sources said they believe management will call for staff to take voluntary redundancies on Friday.
Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of the broadcasting workers' union Bectu, said: "We are here to lobby them and to explain to them the damage these cuts will have to the
The decision is over the cuts is controversial, with senior broadcasters such as John Humphrys and Jeremy Paxman criticising the management for planning to reduce news and current affairs while finding funds for less popular digital channels and internet sites.
As he outlines his cost-cutting blueprint, Mr Thompson will appeal to the BBC Trust, which replaced the board of governors, to stand firm in the face of sustained strike action. A large scale strike would see major programmes taken off air but the chairman of the BBC Trust, Sir Michael Lyons insisted that the cuts were not yet finalised. "There are some difficult decisions to make and we will take all the issues into very careful consideration. This isn't a one-off exercise - we will approve the plan today, possibly with further changes," he said as he arrived for today's meeting.
A senior broadcaster, who declined to be named, predicted a furious response from even the The stand-off has been caused by Mr Thompson's determination to merge television, radio and online operations as part of the attempt to embrace the internet era. Battle lines have been drawn because — following the Government's decision to sanction a much reduced licence fee settlement — the BBC has to fill a £2 billion funding gap over the next six years.
The majority of the cuts will come in the 3,000-strong news gathering operation when radio, television and online operations are integrated for the first time. Several hundred jobs will go in the BBC's
Mr Thompson will meet the unions at 7.30am tomorrow before addressing the staff and can expect to be made fully aware of the scale of hostility his proposals have provoked. The radio news sequences, from Radio 4's PM programme to the World Tonight and the three main BBC1 news programmes, appear safe. But they will pool more staff, resulting in job cuts.
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