The NUJ’s Jeremy Dear: “We have achieved a great deal in terms of making the BBC move…to something we think is fairer”
A BBC strike planned for next week has been suspended, the National Union of Journalists has announced.
The NUJ said the corporation has made an improved offer in an ongoing dispute over proposed cuts to the BBC’s pension scheme.
General secretary Jeremy Dear said a “significant new offer” had been made and members would be consulted.
Two further dates on 19 and 20 October are still scheduled to take place.
“We have received in the past few hours what we consider to be a significant new offer from the BBC,” Mr Dear said.
“There are still some issues to be clarified around it, so we’re going to consult with our members and see what they think of it. But we have achieved a great deal in terms of making the BBC move from their original, extremely punitive proposals to something we think is fairer.”
The strike call came after a BBC announcement of plans to cap pensionable pay at 1% from next April and revalue pensions at a lower level.
Mr Dear added: “We’re not saying it’s a done deal yet – we’re going to consult with members and therefore in order for that to happen we’ve called off the first two strike dates, but we’ve left two strike days on the 19 and 20 October and been given the authority by our members to call further strike dates should that be necessary.”
‘Impartiality and fairness’
Union members had been planning to strike on 5 and 6 October, dates which clash with the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.
Labour Party leader Ed Miliband urged BBC staff not go ahead with the industrial action, saying it was only fair that Prime Minister David Cameron’s speech was covered by the BBC.
“My speech was seen and heard on the BBC and in the interests of impartiality and fairness, so the prime minister’s should be,” he said.
Mr Miliband’s call comes a day after several BBC news presenters and journalists wrote a letter to the NUJ, saying they had “serious concerns” about the industrial action.
Newsnight presenters Jeremy Paxman and Emily Maitlis were among the 36 signatories who claimed that the strike risked “looking unduly partisan”.
A second 48-hour strike is planned for 19 October, which would hit BBC coverage of chancellor George Osborne’s spending review announcement.
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