BBC Director General Meets Union
London, England, United Kingdom (AHN) – British Broadcasting Corporation Director General Mark Thompson blinked in the ongoing labor row between the government-owned station and journalists. Thompson earlier rejected the idea of meeting with the National Union of Journalists, which represents the bulk of BBC journalists.
On Wednesday, Thompson turned around from his original stand and met with the NUJ in a bid to avert another 48-hour strike being planned by the NUJ. Earlier this week, Thompson wrote an email to BBC employees that because the company has reached a final position with four of five BBC unions, the broadcast firm will no longer enter into a fresh negotiation or make new changes on pension reforms.
Aside from the NUJ, Thompson also met with Gerry Morrisey, general secretary of union Bectu, whose members did not join the Friday and Saturday strike organized by NUJ.
Reports said Thompson agreed to two changes. One change is to reopen discussions on amendments to BBC’s pension plan if a new valuation would show that the current system’s deficit is less than $2.25 billion (1.5 billion pounds).
The second change is to permit independent advisers to exercise oversight if pension payments problems in the new scheme will crop up later.
About 60 NUJ representatives will meet Thursday in London to discuss the new BBC offer.
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