A plaintive cry of "foul" emanates from inside BBC News management, as the unions prepare to ballot on strikes in protest at the way job cuts might be implemented, calling it "a rush to industrial action".
The suits point out that putting the issue into dispute before the end of the usual six months window of consultation is a bit off. Worse, the unions don't seem to be using the standard disputes resolution procedure.
Further, the management say that 175 of the 195 new jobs being created will be open to applications from "at risk" employees in roles where 415 posts need to be closed. On alleged job creation before the proposed cuts were announced, BBC News says it has only hired 29 permanent staff in the past year (excluding English Regions and Monitoring). And, on the charge of suits breeding more suits, Hardball Harding's plans for management re-structuring could cut six Senior Management posts.
The door is slightly ajar on a recruitment freeze, but it looks like Harding can't agree to a blanket ban. The principle of "prioritising" the redeployment pool (whatever that really means) will continue, we are told.
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