Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Comment to follow

The columnists-who-love-writing-about-the-BBC will have a field day tomorrow, as they catch up with David Cameron's wheeze to freeze the licence fee for a year - twinned with the NUJ's call for two one-day strikes at the BBC to forestall compulsory redundancies.

Jon Gaunt, formerly of BBC CWR and BBC London, was on song (unsurprisingly) on Sky News this morning, picking up on salaries totalling £14.3m at the BBC for 50 top managers (thus an average of £286,000 a year).

Meanwhile, the NUJ is trying to hold BBC management to a record of no (high-profile) compulsory redundancies for news staff. Their argument is that, in an organisation the size of the BBC, re-settlement and re-training is easily achievable. It's hard, however, to believe that a strike will be 100% observed in the current climate - and that will cause strife.

On executive pay, the Trust may have more trouble. The BBC's next head of HR (announcement awaited) leads a committee that sets rates, and should take into account what's happening in the rest of the market. It may not be enough to forego bonuses - even if some senior managers have to keep the news machine turning on strike days.

Sadly, it looks like public opinion will be with Cameron and Gaunt this time, and against the BBC and the NUJ. The NUJ, in particular, needs a better strategy.

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