BBC staff are voting in a consultative ballot on a revised pensions offer from BBC management.
Indications are that they will reject the offer, which had been improved, though only slightly, as a result of the threat of strike action. Some activists in the NUJ have criticised their union for failing to make a recommendation to reject the offer. With members of BECTU, they have been campaigning under the name “Open Channel”. Read their leaflet here: bi.ly/nuj-bbc
BBC accepts cuts
BBC management has agreed to freeze the licence fee for six years. This represents cuts of 16% in the BBC’s budget. It is also taking over paying for the World Service (formerly funded by the Foreign Office) and the Welsh language channel S4C. A proposal to make the BBC absorb the cost of licence fees for over-75s has been dropped.