A MEMBER of the Scottish Parliament has lent her support to a strike being staged by members of the National Union of Journalists, which is currently disrupting BBC schedules.
The strike – which began yesterday and continues today – is against new pension arrangements being proposed by the Corporation, including amended ones (read more, here) following a threatened boycott of coverage of the Tory Party conference early last month.
Yesterday’s action, for instance, reduced the BBC Scotland news flagship, Reporting Scotland, to five minutes yesterday evening from its usual 30. Anchored by BBC Radio Scotland presenter, Stephen Duffy, the programme carried only a handful of news items. One of them, an item on the Glasgow High Court perjury trial of former MSP, Tommy Sheridan, and his wife, Gail, was a voiced report from BBC Scotland’s head of news and current affairs, Atholl Duncan.
Meanwhile, at a rally, held at BBC Scotland’s HQ in Glasgow, SNP MSP, Christina McKelvie, said: “This strike isn’t about wanting more, it’s not about pay rises, it’s not about perks and benefits, this strike is about BBC journalists getting the pensions they’ve already paid for. It’s about justice, it’s about fairness, it’s about the BBC not ripping off its own employees.”
Another 48-hour strike is scheduled for later this month.
