BBC strike threat

Physio88

zenmaster wrote: »

What incessant public sector cuts are these then?

I've been waiting since May and all they have done is talked about making some vague cuts at some unspecified point in the future whilst continuing to chuck handfuls of my tax revenue down the same old money pits.

I stand corrected..."proposed" public sector cuts.

Physio88

crackers247 wrote: »

So the BBC staff are now being impartial by timing this with a political conference?

That bodes well for them.

No? You've lost me sorry. Could you explain what you mean, its late and I may have missed something.

crackers247

Physio88 wrote: »

No? You've lost me sorry. Could you explain what you mean, its late and I may have missed something.

My point is that the unions have decided to do this at the time of the tory conference.

They wont do it at the labour conference. That was my point. they are doing this to coincide with what the unions don't believe in. Since when has there been a strike that has coincided with a Labour conference?

Not that i can remember.

Physio88

crackers247 wrote: »

My point is that the unions have decided to do this at the time of the tory conference.

They wont do it at the labour conference. That was my point. they are doing this to coincide with what the unions don't believe in. Since when has there been a strike that has coincided with a Labour conference?

Not that i can remember.

Sorry, I thought this was glaringly obvious, when did I suggest otherwise?

crackers247

Physio88 wrote: »

Sorry, I thought this was glaringly obvious, when did I suggest otherwise?

You never are.


so are you telling me that a left wing union has not declared these strikes to co-incide with a right wing party political conference?

Physio88

crackers247 wrote: »

You never are.


so are you telling me that a left wing union has not declared these strikes to co-incide with a right wing party political conference?

No...I am telling you that they have declared them intentionally to coincide with the conservative party conference and the spending review...as I have all along. I quite specifically mentioned this earlier on. I also answered "No" the last time you asked me, before asking you to clarify what you were asking me as it was overwhelmingly obvious that this was an intentional gesture towards the Tories. There are two separate strikes occuring at the same time as two important conservative events, I thought it would go without saying that it was intentional and that the timing is politically motivated....apparently not.

Glad we have managed to clear this up :beer:

crackers247

Physio88 wrote: »

No...I am telling you that they have declared them intentionally to coincide with the conservative party conference and the spending review...as I have all along. I quite specifically mentioned this earlier on. I also answered "No" the last time you asked me, before asking you to clarify what you were asking me as it was overwhelmingly obvious that this was an intentional gesture towards the Tories. There are two separate strikes occuring at the same time as two important conservative events, I thought it would go without saying that it was intentional and that the timing is politically motivated....apparently not.

Glad we have managed to clear this up :beer:

i missed post #10 sorry..

:beer:

Torby

Physio88 wrote: »

I think the strike is entirely justified, pension funds are collapsing and bbc workers are going to see the value of their pensions diminish.

I'm glad it won't inconvenience you, I am sure that the strike isn't targeted at you.

The strikes are actually aimed to coincide with the Tory party conference and the spending review. I think its also a nicely timed protest at the incessant public sector cuts being made by ConDems.

What exactly is your problem with the strike action? (seemingly not Eastenders as you have already stated.)

As you seem well informed about employment and pensions at the BBC, perhaps you could enlighten us all as to exactly what the staff will lose out on? The media unfortunately when they talk about all the public sector strikers never seem to tell us what they will be losing out on.

Do you know what the typical pension projection for BBC employees is, do you know what a typical BBC employees salary will be.

Then if you care to compare with those in the private sector, you may discover that (as a previous poster has stated) welcome to the real world, where others have to take pay cuts and the threat of redundancies as a matter of course without any say in the matter ...it's a cut throat world out there and everyone has to cut their cloth accordingly and accept cuts if the business is to keep going.


so tell, what does a typical BBC employee earn, say a cameraman or continuity announcer...?

cosmeticjunkie

Hi

I have worked for the BBC for over 20 years, as part of my remuneration I was offered one of the so called “gold plated” final salary pensions. I took up this offer and have paid a percentage of my salary into it each month.

During my years here I have earnt less than the equivalent position in the private sector (I'm in IT). Whenever I have been negotiating pay increases over the years it's always been pointed out to me that although I earn less than in the private sector, my pension made up for it. It is quite widely known that except for the likes of Jonathan Ross BBC staff are not paid well in comparison to others in similar jobs outside of the corporation.

Some 10 years ago the BBC pension fund was so over funded that the BBC were able to take a contributions break for several years. Remember investments go up as well as down and I’m sure once the economy settles the pension fund will look healthy again.

Now that recession has hit at the fund has been de-valued the BBC have decided to jump on the band wagon and effectively get rid of the final salary scheme by limiting the increase in salary for pensions purposes to 1% in any given year.

Now this doesn't make much difference at present as we got a 0% pay rise last year (so in affect a pay cut) and we got a £400 across the board pay rise this year.

However in subsequent years when the economy has recovered I would expect to receive pay rises in excess of 1%.

The BBC closed it's final salary scheme to new members over 5 years ago which is fair enough, but I think it's grossly unfair to devalue a scheme that people have been paying into for many years.

I am not a union member and under normal circumstances do not agree with strike action, to my mind if you don't like the terms of employment go elsewhere. I this case though after paying for something for 20 years I don't have the option of going elsewhere and therefore will not be crossing the picket line.

Sorry for the long post but just wanted to put the other side of the argument, oh and by the way this change wont affect the top earners as they are in a different scheme.

peachyprice

I would have liked a £400 payrise this year, I didn't get it, nor the year before, or the year before that. I've lost my BUPA, I've had my pension contributions cut.

The point is, all this has aleady happened in the private sector, to millions, and has been going on for the last decade.

Those working in the public sector have always believed they were immune to such measures, now it's time to wake up and realise what it's like out here in the real world. The public purse is only so deep.