BBC unions call for talks over use of material in CBC dispute

Two of the main unions representing staff at the BBC, the NUJ and BECTU, have called for urgent talks with the Corporation to ensure it does not help fill the news void at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) after it locked out 5,500 of its own staff.

CBC management shut the doors last Monday following a breakdown of talks in a dispute over casualisation and temporary contracts.

It is increasingly clear that BBC material is being used to fill CBC news slots. The NUJ and BECTU say they will not tolerate their members' work being used against colleagues in Canada and have issued a joint statement expressing their total support for the campaign by CBC workers "to oppose increasing casualisation of the industry and for the right to a fair contract".

The NUJ and BECTU are calling for urgent talks with BBC management to demand it takes action to stop the BBC being seen to be used to break the strike and to preserve the reputation of the BBC for impartiality. The unions say they will demand that action is taken to ensure BBC journalists are not seen to be helping CBC management maintain production during the course of the dispute.

Martin Spence, Assistant General Secretary of BECTU, said: "The BBC's support for a broadcaster who has locked out its staff rather than talk to them can only make CBC management bolder, and will probably lengthen a dispute that should never have happened in the first place. The last thing the BBC needs is this kind of damage to its reputation at a time when the debate about its own future is beginning."

Source: Radio Netherlands

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