Speaking at a meeting organised by the NUJ and pressure group Defend the Right to Protest at Conway Hall, former BBC current affairs journalist Benn added: “The influence of Rupert Murdoch is so baleful.  He has been a very negative force in British politics.  He is the most powerful man in the world.

“Governments don’t want us to know anything about what they did for 30 years – and the phone-tapping scandal is the beginning of a movement for a free Press.”

Murdoch wrecked lives

Benn added:  “We also need to end the purchasing of the police and strengthen the Labour Party so that it doesn’t need to go to the likes of Murdoch for support.”

Meeting chair David Crouch ( Financial Times) said that the chickens had come home to roost for Murdoch, adding: “He won’t go easily.  So many peoples’ lives have been wrecked by the Murdoch media.”

NUJ General Secretary Michelle Stanistreet pointed out that in just three weeks the incestuous relations between politicians and the police have been exposed.  “The Cameron sound bites about ‘appropriate discussions’ sound just like President Clinton denying that he has sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky,” she added.

“The tentacles of Murdoch’s power have gone too far.  His apologies are particularly hollow.  MPs have been too afraid to expose Murdoch for fear that his papers would publish details of their peccadilloes.

Trade unions uphold journalist ethics

Stanistreet said: “The NUJ has been locked out of Wapping for 25 years – and Murdoch was rewarded with anti-union laws. There is a clear link between banning trade union collective bargaining and the drop in reporting standards. Ethics are not an add-on.  We have long argued for a conscience clause in all agreements to protect journalists.

She was critical of Prime Minister David Cameron’s attack on the BBC, adding: “We want an immediate renegotiation of the licence fee deal. The BBC has announced 20% cuts.  Members are being made compulsorily redundant.  Local newspapers are having the life sucked out of them by greedy employers.

“National titles shouldn’t be at the whim of one man or woman – and the NUJ wants media regulation on our terms.  This is another Wapping moment,” Stanistreet said.

How Murdoch broke the unions

Tony Bug, Assistant General Secretary of Unite, was involved in the Wapping dispute 25 years ago.  He accused Murdoch of starting the race to the bottom, adding: “Murdoch sacked over 5,000 workers.

“Wapping was never about new technology but Murdoch’s world-wide aims.  He planned to break the unions.  He bought the Wapping site in 1979 – and claimed in 1985 that it was being used to produce a new London evening paper, The Post.

“Under the new terms, there was to be no union recognition, no negotiations, no strikes and the ‘right’ of management to sack workers on the spot.  He then bought in a rogue union (the EETPU) and the resources of the Metropolitan Police to get his titles out.

“Murdoch’s executives behaved like the rules of a banana republic,” Bug pointed out.

He praised Labour MPs Tom Watson, Chris Bryant and Ed Miliband for standing up to Murdoch – and called for the abolition of the PCC and the setting up of a Commission on Enquiry to look into cross-media ownership.

Many people had wondered how Murdoch had been allowed to get away with his non-union stance.  Bug pointed out that the Blair Government quietly slipped in a clause in the Fairness at Work laws to allow company-controlled staff associations instead of independent trade unions where they already existed.

Bug said: “This is why Murdoch set up NISA at Wapping.  To get rid of it, News International employees would need to start a derecognition ballot.  We must make sure that Wapping never happens again.”

Reform the media and police

Many in the audience supported calls for a big trade union demonstration on Wapping.

One Liverpool supporter who witnessed the Hillsborough disaster and The Sun’s lies about it being caused by Liverpool supporters said that even mentioning the name of The Sun still made him feel sick and angry.  He added that the reporting by the Murdoch media caused revulsion throughout Merseyside.  Even to this day, many people up there refused to buy or read a Murdoch title.

Darren Burke, FoC of the South Yorkshire Press, said that even a few weeks ago he never thought that he would be leading a strike.  Some of the papers in dispute are in Labour Leader Ed Miliband’s constituency.  The owners had a Chairman on £1 million a year while trainees received as little as £12,000 a year.  He added: “I want journalists’ pay discussed in any inquiry into media ownership”.

Lawyer Matt Foot said he would be representing the many students who were facing court over recent protests over tuition fees in London.  He added: “The resignation of Sir Paul Stevenson as Metropolitan Police Commission is supposed to be about his integrity.  He enjoyed five weeks free hospitality worth £12,000 at a health spa.

“Retired Deputy Assistant Commissioner Brian Paddick said that this was strictly against the rules.  Sir Paul was wined and dined by News International on six occasions as well as finding time to go into The Guardian’s offices and berate its staff for their coverage of his police force.

“Sir Paul also said that his policy was to take a professional and restrained approach to student demos.  More than 60 protestors were injured, compared with 20 police officers. More than 200 students were arrested on minor charges – yet they were dealt with by the counter-terrorism police,” Mr Foot said.

The TUC is hosting an exhibition to mark the 25^th Anniversary of the Wapping dispute at Congress House.  Two printers have just published their memoires of the dispute.  One said that he hoped it would help bring down Murdoch.

Picket line at Bush House, London (credit Vicki Morris)

Strikers at Bush House, London, reported a solid strike with up to 4o people picketing at anyone time. Particularly strong was the Arabic and Farsi sections, there were also picket lines in Istanbul and Kabul. The mood was good, especially with a supply of coffees from supportive staff in local cafes. Also it was reported that some Bectu members had also refused cross the picket lines.

BBC Radio in Sheffield (credit Julia Armstrong)

Other pickets around the country were out in force with lively and noisy contingents. This one is from Radio Sheffield, which was solid and youthful.

More reports are at the NUJ website

More pictures of the strike are at
Picket lines in London by Jess Hurd
Picket line in Birmingham by Stalingrad O’Neill

Dear colleague,

Can you afford to simply give away £100,000, £25,000 or even ‘just’ £10,000? Of course not.

But those are the kinds of sums every journalist faces losing under the BBC’s latest pension proposal.

It’s unfair and unacceptable. For all BBC staff it means paying more, working longer or getting significantly lower pensions. In some cases, all three!
BBC journalists are not asking for higher pensions. They are not even saying they wouldn’t consider paying more or working longer for a fair pension settlement.

That means a deal based on the real deficit in the scheme, not speculative and questionable figures.

It means a pension which does not lose a significant part of its value every single year for the rest of their lives – which is what will happen under the current proposals.

And it should be a deal that means what has been promised to them – which they have already paid for – is protected.

The current offer fails those tests and it fails BBC staff.

That’s why they’ve been left with no choice but to take industrial action on 5 and 6 November and 15 and 16 November. They can’t afford not to.and they need YOUR support.

Jeremy Dear, General Secretary

How you can help:

Make a donation. Make cheques payable to NUJ (marked on back BBC Strike hardship fund) and send to General Secretary, NUJ, Headland House, 308 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8DP.

Send messages of support. Messages should be sent to campaigns@nuj.org.uk

Join the picket lines – visit your local BBC centre to join the picket on 5 and 6 November. For further details of picket times/places contact campaigns@nuj.org.uk

Invite a speaker – contact your local BBC rep or campaigns@nuj.org.uk to arrange a speaker for your next meeting

Keep up to date on developments – see www.nuj.org.uk for the latest news of meetings and action.

Latest leaflet from BBC reps against the pensions offer

Under the name, Open Channel, a coalition of NUJ and Bectu reps are campaigning for a no vote in the ballot on the BBC’s latest pension offer.

Download a copy here to read and distribute to your work colleagues. Here are highlights of the leaflet below.


“We are a cross-section of union reps at the BBC and we think you should vote “No” in the consultative ballot on the BBC’s CAB 2011 pension plans.

Mark Thompson’s campaign to destroy the final Salary Pension Scheme is based on a sham.

A new estimate suggests that the deficit on the scheme is not £2 Billion. It is not £1.5 Billion. It has now been estimated at £1 Billion – that’s the level at which the Director General promised to reconsider the BBC’s options on the future of the pension scheme.

So, all bets are off. We call on the BBC to re-start negotiations from scratch. The reps’ decision to call this consultative ballot has given staff a chance to see even more of the flaws in the BBC’s plans.

We all have the right to demand that Mark Thompson offers us a pension which will allow us a decent, secure standard of living in retirement.

That’s what we were promised. So far, none of his alternatives to scrapping the Final Salary Pension Scheme gives us that.

“Was it part of the natural order that final-salary schemes would wither and die? Were they killed by incompetence and neglect? Or were they murdered?” from “Who Runs Britain” by Robert Peston, BBC Business Editor”

Vote NO because:

• CAB 2011 means staff will be expected to pay more, to work longer and get less back for their retirement.
• The BBC has refused to consider the unions’ calls to protect our pensions against rising costs of living in the future. You risk losing more than 20% of your pension to inflation under the current plan.
• The BBC’s “final” offer was no such thing. Negotiations are still going on and management have continued to amend key elements of their proposals.
• The new estimate of the pension deficit shows that senior management have used the deficit in a politically-driven attack to close down the Final Salary Scheme.
• BBC staff are not demanding “feather-bedding” or “gold-plated” pensions. The current average pension for BBC staff is £12,500. That’s somewhere between the pension of a fire-fighter and a police officer.

Figures linked to BBC staff show that the pension deficit is less than £1 billion – the BBC management claim that it is nearly £2 billion.

NUJ General Secretary Jeremy Dear has called on the BBC to come clean on the figures and negotiate a sensible solution.

The leak comes at a time when union reps at the BBC are campaigning for a NO vote in the ballot on the latest offer.

Here’s the story about the leaked figures

BBC staff Leaflet calling for NO vote (pic: Guy Smallman)

The BBC Pensions Robbery: It’s our decision now…
We are a cross-section of union reps from across the BBC and we think you should vote ‘No’ in the consultative ballot on the BBC’s CAB 2011 pension plans.
We believe the BBC unions were right to suspend the strikes earlier this month. It has given all of us a chance to see the progress, which our negotiators have made, but it has also allowed BBC staff to scrutinise what is on offer. It is not fair and it is not acceptable. BBC staff have the right to demand that Mark Thompson offers them a pension which will allow them a decent, secure standard of living in retirement.
That’s what we were promised. So far, none of his alternatives to scrapping the Final Salary Pension Scheme gives us that.

You should vote ‘NO’ because…
CAB 2011 means staff will be expected to pay more, to work longer and get less back for their retirement. The BBC has refused to consider the unions’ calls to protect our pensions against rising costs of living in the future. You risk losing more than 20% of your pension to inflation under the current plan. The BBC’s “final” offer was no such thing. Negotiations are still going on and management have continued to amend key elements of their proposals. BBC staff are not demanding “featherbedding” or “gold-plated” pensions. The current average pension for BBC staff is £12,500.
That’s somewhere between the pension of a fire-fighter and a police officer. We trust our negotiators to try to secure the best they can for us. We no longer trust the BBC senior executives who have told each other they think staff “will fall for it” when they tell us they have made their final offer.

Don’t be scared to vote ‘NO’
If you vote “yes” in the consultative ballot, you are saying the BBC plans are acceptable. A strong “No” vote puts BBC staff back in the driving seat. It means we are telling our negotiators and telling Mark Thompson that CAB 2011 is not fair, it is not acceptable and we will go on strike if the BBC does not give us what
we were promised – a pension that is secure into the future and is valuable for younger people with a life of work ahead of them.

Signatories:
Peter Murray, Glasgow Chapel, NUJ President; Tory Blair, BBC London Branch,
NUJ Secondee; Ian Pollock, BBC London Branch, former Pensions Trustee; Bríd
Fitzpatrick, Newcastle; Paul Mason, Newsnight, Zarghuna Kargar, Afghan Service,
Paula Dear, News Interactive, Simon Vaughan, Westminster; Michael Workman,
World Service News; Julie Clayton, Cumbria; Jeremy Aspinall, BBC Worldwide;
David Eyre, Glasgow/Edinburgh; Becky Brandford, BBC Ineractive,;Jonathan
Brunert, Panorama/White City; Andy Comfort, Hull; David Campanale, World TV;
Dimitry Linnik, Russian service; Jane Anderson, Worldwide; Lesley Taylor, Radio
Newsroom; Jon Kelly, News Interactive

Speaking as voting was set to begin in a consultative ballot over the BBC’s latest pensions proposals he predicted NUJ members would vote ‘No’ and strike action would become “inevitable” unless the BBC revisited the latest offer.

More disputes

But he also warned expected cuts of up to 25% at the BBC World Service, the closure of services and on-going job cuts caused by a freeze in licence fee funding would lead to “more disputes, strikes and a growing sense of discontent”.

Jeremy Dear said: “The BBC’s latest pension proposals are the result of months of tough negotiations but the fact is they remain unfair and unacceptable to a majority of staff.  Thousands of staff are expected to pay more for less and to work longer for the privilege. With the prospect of pensions being devalued by tens of thousands of pounds it is little wonder that the overwhelming mood at meetings is to reject and to campaign for a fairer pensions deal.

“Add to that anger the massive pay off Mark Byford has been given, the threat of job cuts and service closures at the World Service and the inevitable consequence that as a result of the funding freeze fewer staff will be expected to cut more corners to deliver BBC services and there is a real prospect of a winter of growing discontent”.

Ballot

Ballot papers are being issued to around 10,000 union members tomorrow. The ballot will close on 28 October.

Strikes scheduled for the 19 and 20 October have been postponed to allow for the ballot to take place but a 24-hour work to rule will take place on 22 October and the unions are to inform the BBC of a series of additional strike dates which may be activated in the event of a no vote in the consultative ballot.

No Vote

On Saturday, a meeting of the NUJ left heard BBC reps saying there was anger over the offer and a mood to strike. Reps said they would put out a leaflet calling on BBC staff to vote against the deal.

Anyone wanting to help please contact the NUJ left.

NUJ members at the BBC voted nine to one recently to strike over the BBC’s attack on their pensions. They have been joined by Bectu and Unite members in a concerted campaign against the proposals. The threat of strike action forced the BBC into making a last-ditch offer last Friday, which the three unions have taken back to their members. Pete will be updating the meeting on the latest.

Also attending will be journalist and NUJ member Charles Atangana, who is facing deportation back to Cameroon. Charles fled Cameroon after being tortured by government troops. He will talk about his struggle for asylum in this country.

The NUJ Left meeting is on Saturday 9 October and starts at 1.30pm to 4.30pm. It is at The Cock Tavern, 23 Phoenix Road, King’s Cross, London NW1 1HB just behind Euston and St Pancras stations: http://www.qype.co.uk/place/1205433-The-Cock-Tavern-London

The full agenda is

1) Briefing from BBC dispute

2) Charles Atangana

3) Preparations for Delegate Meeting: motions, candidates

4) Fighting the far-right

5) AOB

All members of the NUJ welcome. You can join the NUJ Left at the door.

The three main unions at the BBC: NUJ, Bectu and Unite are organising the action in protest against plans to cut pensions. NUJ members voted by more than 90 per cent to strike.

The top brass at the BBC are proposing to cut the link between salary and pension by putting a one percent cap on any pension increase. Managers claim that the pension fund is in debt to nearly £2 billion – this is rejected by the three unions: NUJ, Bectu and Unite.

The pension attack is part of a series of attacks on the BBC and its staff such as pay, threats to the World Service and government intentions to sell-off parts of the public body.

The NUJ Left supports the strikes and will be visiting picket lines across the county. Please download this petition, get you’re fellow workers to sign it and take it along to a picket line near you.