Post by Teddy Bear on Mar 29, 2013 1:33:50 GMT
BBC staff who went on strike yesterday said they were prepared to return to their desks if Nelson Mandela died, however the staff's generosity stopped there.
Generosity? Somehow it sticks in my throat. However, it shows clearly their priority. Mandela lost it with me when he came to Lockerbie and pleaded for the bomber who had killed 243 passengers and 16 crew and 11 people on the ground to be released back to Libya because he was a Muslim. To me that's insane and shows a complete disregard for the families who had lost their loved ones because of this man.
How dare he?
Yet the BBC staff consider him somebody worthy of their dismissing their justification to strike. Not for the licence fee payer, but simply their own personal sick mindset.
The corporation said that the decision to return was “a tribute to the character of BBC staff.”
Yes, it tells of the character of BBC staff, but definitely not a tribute to it.
Generosity? Somehow it sticks in my throat. However, it shows clearly their priority. Mandela lost it with me when he came to Lockerbie and pleaded for the bomber who had killed 243 passengers and 16 crew and 11 people on the ground to be released back to Libya because he was a Muslim. To me that's insane and shows a complete disregard for the families who had lost their loved ones because of this man.
How dare he?
Yet the BBC staff consider him somebody worthy of their dismissing their justification to strike. Not for the licence fee payer, but simply their own personal sick mindset.
The corporation said that the decision to return was “a tribute to the character of BBC staff.”
Yes, it tells of the character of BBC staff, but definitely not a tribute to it.
BBC unions silent over the Maggie Question
BBC staff who went on strike yesterday said they were prepared to return to their desks if Nelson Mandela died, however the staff's generosity stopped there.
After news that the 94-year-old was in hospital broke, union leaders declared that in “the sad event of his death, and for BBC news coverage of that story only” the staff would postpone the strike.
However when the strikers were asked whether the ailing Lady Thatcher, scourge of the unions in the 1980s, would be treated in the same manner, there was a marked change of approach.
Both Bectu and the National Union of Journalists said simply that they had not considered what they would do in the event of the 87-year-old former prime minister’s untimely death.
An NUJ spokeswoman said: “Mandela, with his background in the trade unions, is an important figure for everybody.”
The corporation said that the decision to return was “a tribute to the character of BBC staff.”
The 12-hour walkout follows a dispute over job cuts, workload and claims of bullying. It caused huge disruption to the scheduling - with all of Radio 4’s trademark current affairs programmes replaced with repeats of old shows.
BBC 2’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight was also cancelled, and the schedule shifted forward to fill the gap.
The BBC News Channel was forced to repeat recorded news for the first three hours, only managing to produce brief hourly bulletins, before resuming half service for the rest of the night.
The World Tonight, The World at One, and Eddie Mair’s PM were all taken off air and replaced with repeats. The Today programme was expected to air as normal this morning. Staff will carry out a work-to-rule policy today.
The action is a protest at the so-called Delivering Quality First programme which will lead to 2,000 job losses. The BBC apologised for any disruption caused by the strike, but said it could not agree to union calls for compulsory job losses to be postponed.
The NUJ vote was 61 per cent in favour of stoppages, while backing among Bectu members was 56 per cent. Both unions said that the level of disruption showed how effective the strikes had been.
BBC staff who went on strike yesterday said they were prepared to return to their desks if Nelson Mandela died, however the staff's generosity stopped there.
After news that the 94-year-old was in hospital broke, union leaders declared that in “the sad event of his death, and for BBC news coverage of that story only” the staff would postpone the strike.
However when the strikers were asked whether the ailing Lady Thatcher, scourge of the unions in the 1980s, would be treated in the same manner, there was a marked change of approach.
Both Bectu and the National Union of Journalists said simply that they had not considered what they would do in the event of the 87-year-old former prime minister’s untimely death.
An NUJ spokeswoman said: “Mandela, with his background in the trade unions, is an important figure for everybody.”
The corporation said that the decision to return was “a tribute to the character of BBC staff.”
The 12-hour walkout follows a dispute over job cuts, workload and claims of bullying. It caused huge disruption to the scheduling - with all of Radio 4’s trademark current affairs programmes replaced with repeats of old shows.
BBC 2’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight was also cancelled, and the schedule shifted forward to fill the gap.
The BBC News Channel was forced to repeat recorded news for the first three hours, only managing to produce brief hourly bulletins, before resuming half service for the rest of the night.
The World Tonight, The World at One, and Eddie Mair’s PM were all taken off air and replaced with repeats. The Today programme was expected to air as normal this morning. Staff will carry out a work-to-rule policy today.
The action is a protest at the so-called Delivering Quality First programme which will lead to 2,000 job losses. The BBC apologised for any disruption caused by the strike, but said it could not agree to union calls for compulsory job losses to be postponed.
The NUJ vote was 61 per cent in favour of stoppages, while backing among Bectu members was 56 per cent. Both unions said that the level of disruption showed how effective the strikes had been.
