Thousands of BBC journalists are set to stage a two-day strike in April over corporation plans to make compulsory redundancies.
BBC members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) voted 77% in favour of strike action in a national ballot, in response to plans to axe 20 jobs at the World Service radio division and other posts in Scotland.
London-based journalists on the BBC Hindi, Nepali, and Urdu radio programmes and websites have already held a one-day strike over the cuts.
NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear said: “Once again, NUJ members at the BBC have shown they will not accept compulsory redundancies. Journalists at the South Asian services have been fighting a heroic struggle against the outsourcing of their jobs, which will sacrifice jobs and editorial independence. Now they have the weight of thousands of NUJ members at the BBC behind them.”
A BBC spokeswoman said the broadcasting giant was working hard to minimise compulsory redundancies.
“We have told staff that the BBC’s financial position is not immune from what is happening in the economy and we are disappointed that the union is considering industrial action. We will continue to work with [staff] to try to avoid unnecessary compulsory redundancies,” she said.
The strikes are due to take place on 3 April and 9 April. Further talks with the BBC and the NUJ will take place at the end of March.
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