The BBC is facing the potential threat of strike action over the terms of its £100m HR outsourcing deal with Capita.
Under the terms of the deal, announced last week, 100 staff in the BBC People division are due to transfer to Capita’s office in Belfast. The corporation has given assurances they will be offered re-deployment at a Capita office nearer to their location if they do not want to move.
But at a meeting between BBC management and unions yesterday to discuss the deal, union officials raised objections over proposals that could see staff who do not want to move to Belfast redeployed on non-BBC Capita contracts.
Luke Crawley, lead BBC negotiator at broadcast union Bectu, told Personnel Today: “The terms and conditions are fine and the pensions are broadly comparable, but the big problem is the redeployment proposals.
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“We have asked the BBC and Capita to respond to our objections, but if the proposal stands we will be balloting for industrial action.”
Capita and the BBC have promised to respond to the unions by Friday.
