At a meeting to discuss the scale of the latest cuts Paul Holleran said unless redundancy terms were improved he could not see the figures being reached before the end of September.

 

Paul Holleran, NUJ Scottish organiser said: "While we knew cuts were coming I think it would be no exaggeration to state that people in radio and the newsroom in particular were shocked at the large numbers affected. At a time when BBC Scotland should be getting more resources to deal with the growing demand for political debate around the independence referendum and what kind of a future we want for Scotland then these cuts are forced through because of the bad deal over the licence fee settlement. They are finding it difficult to produce programmes with the current staffing levels and only then with a lot of good will from our members. At the moment I am pessimistic about these cuts happening without conflict but we will be meeting management again soon to hear their proposals and that will give us a clearer picture."

 

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secretary said: "The cuts proposed in Scotland will damage the BBC. Under the so-called Delivering Quality First programme, the BBC must find 20 per cent cuts and the Corporation plan to axe thousands of jobs, while the licence fee remains frozen until 2017. At the same time the BBC must take on extra £340 million in spending responsibilities, including the funding of the World Service, local TV and the rollout of fast broadband. The NUJ are calling on the BBC to defend quality journalism, improve the licence fee settlement and avoid compulsory redundancies."

 

 

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