BBC unions vote for strikes to defend pensions

Members of the National Union of Journalists and the technicians' union Bectu backed walkouts by more than nine to one in protest at "punitive" changes to the staff pension scheme.

Unions held back from naming strike dates so that talks can be held over the next two weeks to try to resolve the dispute.

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary of Bectu, said: "This is a significant mandate for strikes, which demonstrates how out of touch BBC executives are with their staff. We hope they will now come up with more realistic proposals, otherwise we will have no alternative but to call industrial action."

Jeremy Dear, general secretary of the NUJ, said: "This is an unprecedented result in favour of strike action and a clear rejection of the BBC's proposals.

"We have agreed to give the BBC two weeks to come back with an improved offer or face a concerted campaign of industrial action."

The threat of strikes follows a BBC announcement of plans to cap pensionable pay at one per cent from next April and revalue pensions at a lower level, which unions said effectively devalued pensions already earned.

BBC management said the changes were needed to tackle a huge pension deficit of more than 1.5bn.

The NUJ circulated a leaflet to members headed "pensions robbery" and said staff were angry, warning the changes would signal the end of the "special relationship" they had with the corporation. The leaflet said: "A massive yes vote in the ballot will leave the BBC with no choice – they are going to have to revise their plans or face co-ordinated and determined industrial action by all the BBC unions."

Unions said they wanted the BBC to come back to the negotiating table with a better offer that protected the value of pensions already earned.

BBC director general Mark Thompson sent an email to staff yesterday thanking them for their comments during a consultation period on pensions, adding: "The challenges we face with our pension arrangements are acute and our proposals were correspondingly tough. They represent disappointing news for most in the BBC pension scheme so I'm not surprised that many of you have told us how worried you are about them."

He went on: "Although staff seem to accept that the proposed new defined contribution scheme is a competitive one, many have said they would prefer a lower-risk alternative – ideally one which would also allow them to ensure that the pension they had already accrued could be protected in real terms

"As I said in August our room for manoeuvre is limited.

"We are facing a large pension deficit and must act now to reduce it. But we would like to meet your concerns as far as we can.

"During the last few weeks, we have been talking to the joint unions to discuss the areas where there may be scope for alternatives."

n The BBC was guilty of a "massive bias to the Left" in the past, director general Mr Thompson said yesterday.

He said staff were "quite mystified" by the rise of Margaret Thatcher but now there was "less overt tribalism" among its journalists.

He told the New Statesman: "In the BBC I joined 30 years ago, there was, in much of current affairs, in terms of people's personal politics, which were quite vocal, a massive bias to the Left.

"The organisation did struggle then with impartiality. And journalistically, staff were quite mystified by the early years of Thatcher.

"Now it is a completely different generation. There is much less overt tribalism among the young journalists who work for the BBC."