BBC Factual departments in Birmingham and Bristol face large-scale job cuts

Media and entertainment union, BECTU, has today charged BBC Vision with failing to manage its programme-making operation wisely as plans are announced to cut staff in Birmingham and Bristol. Birmingham Factual faces a dramatic cut in staff as 26 out of a total staff of 50 are put at risk. The plans affect producer/directors, assistant producers and researchers.

Meanwhile in Bristol, staff in the Factual department and in the Natural History Unit are learning today of plans to cut their numbers by 21 out of a total of 68 across the two teams. The grades affected include series producers and producers.
All of the affected staff are part of the BBC’s production arm, BBC Vision.
Commenting on today’s announcements, Anna Murray, national official said:
“BECTU is devastated to learn that such large numbers of talented staff are at risk of redundancy in Bristol and Birmingham.
“Today’s announcements contradict Mark Thompson’s statements only last month on Delivering Quality First. The union will challenge the fact that these announcements come before the promised BBC-wide consultations with staff. These staff in factual are the very people who can help the BBC to meet its objectives.
“These production teams reflect huge versatility and make everything from high-end specialist wildlife programmes to daytime output. Their work reaches right across the BBC audience and more so than other BBC content.
“We believe that those at the top of the BBC have failed to manage the programme-making operation wisely and that staff in Birmingham and Bristol have been denied the opportunity to make a fair share of output. Those who control the channels and commission programmes have been allowed to by-pass in-house expertise; the result is that the development of sites like Birmingham and Bristol has been stifled.”
BECTU representatives will test BBC management on their proposals as the consultations get underway and will do everything possible to retain employment for the maximum number of staff.
For more information contact Sharon Elliott, communications officer (selliott@bectu.org.uk) or Anna Murray, national official on 020 7346 0900.

GMB research shows scale of local authority job cuts

The GMB’s latest list shows that a total of 125,894 posts are under threat of being made redundant at 165 councils and authorities across Britain. In nearly all these councils a 90 day statutory consultation period is underway on how to deal with these job losses. Councils have given notice that they plan to delete vacant posts and seek volunteers for early retirements and redundancy.
Under the Trades Union and Labour Relations(Consolidation) Act 1992 employers are required to give the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills an advance(HR1) notification of potential redundancies and to send copies to recognized trades unions. Section 6 of the HR1 form sets out the number of possible redundancies and the date on the form triggers the 90 day consultation period. The information below on the levels of posts under threat is mainly drawn from this source. Section 4 deals with timing of redundancies and the most common date on the HR1 forms is 31 March 2011. Some volunteers have already left.
There are a total of 353 councils in England, 22 in Wales and 32 in Scotland plus a total of 90 other authorities including national parks, police, fire and waste. For a total of 332 authorities GMB has not yet established the number of posts under threat.

Paul Kenny, GMB General Secretary, said “This rise in the number of people unemployed at a time when the economy is recovering from the bankers recession is linked to not filling vacancies right across the public sector and to people of working age volunteering for redundancy being added to the dole queues. The government is in denial that it is deliberately creating unemployment but the fact is that it is driving up the level of unemployment."

GMB tracks the number of job losses in the local authority sector. To date the cumulative number of job losses is 125,894 for 165 authorities. In the current circumstances it is hard to see the private sector creating enough new jobs to make up for these job losses.
The purchasing power of people in work is being badly affected by the hike in VAT and other inflationary pressures on the economy as pay is not keeping up. Pay freezes in the public sector and the threatened increase in pension contributions will make matters worse. GMB has accused the coalition government of taking an almighty gamble with the economy and that accusation stands. It is not possible to deflate your way to growth and a balanced budget.”
East Midlands
Derbyshire CC 2,000

Leicestershire County Council 1,000
Lincolnshire County Council 1,000
Nottingham City Council 800
Derby City Council 750
Northamptonshire County Council 600
Nottinghamshire Combined Fire Authority 150
Northamptonshire Police Authority 100
Lincolnshire Police Authority 60
Peak District National Park Authority 44
Derbyshire Dales Council 40


East Midlands total 6,544



West Midlands
Birmingham City Council 5,000
Stoke on Trent 2,500
Shropshire CC 2,400
West Midlands Police Authority 2,200
Warwickshire 1,855
Sandwell 1,000
Coventry City Council 1,000
Dudley Borough Council 800
Staffordshire Police Authority 600
Telford & Wrekin 530
Warwickshire Police Authority 450
West Mercia Police Authority 287
Wyre Forest District Council 24

West Midlands total 18,646

College jobs to go in Nuneaton

Up to 83 jobs may be lost at North Warwickshire and Hinkley College as funding cuts in further education come on stream. UCU, the union representing members at the college, are currently in discussions with managment over the proposals.
This has been reported locally in the.Nuneaton Telegrahttp: http://iccoventry.icnetwork.co.uk/nuneaton-tribune/nuneaton-news/tm_headline=threat-to-83-nuneaton-college-jobs%26method=full%26objectid=26541304%26siteid=50003-name_page.html

Axe begins to fall

The new government announcements on cuts totaling over £6.2 billion will inevitably lead to job cuts in  the midlands. We have already seen the announcement of further job losses in Coventry with the closure of Becta (The British Education Communications Technology Agency) responsible for the leading the development of technology for Schools.
The future of the QCDA (Qualifications Curriculum Development Agency) responsible for overseeing the curriculum, assessments and qualifications for the government is threatened with over 700 jobs at risk. Also now threatened is the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) formerly part of the LSC with 500+ employees.
These agencies, and the jobs within them, are doing work which would aid the recovery from the recession. Their loss will not speed recovery and will put hard working civil servants on the unemployment register.
Many of these jobs are based in Coventry, a city which the Regional TUC has highlighted as suffering particularly hard with a string of closures in the manufacturing, engineering and finance sectors in recent years.

UCU to ballot members at west midland colleges

UCU today announced that members at four of the largest colleges in the West Midlands have voted overwhelmingly in favour to ballot for strike action if the threat of compulsory redundancies is not removed.

At well-attended meetings at City College Wolverhampton, South Birmingham College, Birmingham Metropolitan College and City College Birmingham there was clear anger at the employers' proposals to sack lecturing staff.
The colleges will be issued with the union's notice to ballot next week with a likely deadline of Tuesday 25 May to remove the threat of compulsory redundancies. If the deadline is not met then there will be ballots of UCU members for strike action. Those ballots would close on Wednesday 9 June with any action likely to take place before the end of the month.
Birmingham Metropolitan College has announced plans to make up to 100 job cuts and City College Wolverhampton has said that it is looking to make savings of £3 million with 160 posts at risk. UCU says that the cuts would hit some of the most vulnerable communities in the West Midlands.
UCU regional official for the West Midlands, Nick Varney, said: 'We are not unreasonable and we do accept that there will have to be difficult decisions made. What we do not, and will not, accept is colleges using funding cuts to unnecessarily sack staff or hold a gun to the heads of staff who fear for their livelihoods.
'What we want is a sensible approach from colleges to work through those difficult decisions with us. Yet some colleges seem hell-bent on using the excuse of funding cuts to introduce unfair selection criteria so that they can sack teachers with minimum compensation.
'Not only will that approach put hundreds of trained teachers on to the dole, it will also mean the end of educational opportunities for thousands of people in some of the most deprived areas. Our members have made it crystal clear that they will fight for their students and for their jobs.'