Carrots and sticks

The BBC's relations with its staff seem to be all over the place at the moment - at a time when things should be gently ticking over, awaiting a new DG.  On one hand, HR boss Lucy Adams wants managers to put each member of staff into one of five boxes reflecting their performance over the year. The unions say staff shouldn't agree to this, the thin end of the performance-related pay wedge. In theory, no-one should receive any form of annual pay award until their "appraisal" - an agreed summary of a discussion between manager and team-member - is complete. Yet today, Lucy says everyone will get a 1% rise in their June salary - negating the idea that a rise is only paid if performance is acceptable, and recorded as such.

Presumably, the idea is to take the sting out of a likely ballot for action over the unions' claim for a pay rise of inflation +.

Meanwhile there's an unfortunate hardline being taken with a small group of loyal staff who've been messed about by the BBC since 1997.  They were "TUPE"-d out (sorry about the jargon - transferred with some continuing protection of their employment rights) to private company Babcock. Late last year they were "TUPE-d" back to the BBC - and asked if they could, like other staff, have the option of choosing between the pension options that had been on offer while they were away.  An apparently non-negotiable "no" is the answer.

And in Wales, BBC members of BECTU are being ballotted at the end of this week on strike action in support of one of their officials who's been sacked.