Fears over complusory BBC redundancies

BBC management met with broadcast and journalist unions yesterday to discuss its plans to cut 108 posts across news, including around ten compulsory redundancies.

The corporation wants the jobs to go by the end of next March. Unions Bectu and the NUJ have vowed to fight the decision and will ask members to vote for strike action if they cannot persuade the BBC to change its mind.

Both unions and staff members had hoped the broadcaster would opt for voluntary redundancies and natural turnover, but the BBC says some individuals will lose their jobs without being offered alternative employment, despite its efforts to stop this happening.

Some will be "selected" redundancies, where management will pick particular staff. This is believed to apply to two Newsnight correspondents and one journalist working in regional radio. Other posts under threat include a sports news presenter, a planning editor, an operator, a co-coordinator and an interactive broadcast journalist.

The news comes in the third year of director general Mark Thompson's "Value for Money" efficiency initiative, which aims to make 15% savings across the BBC.