Strikes can make BBC bosses listen

Workers at the BBC are furious that management are slashing 2,000 jobs.

To add insult to injury, BBC director general Mark Thompson said if workers don’t like it, no one is making them stay.

Thompson made the comments at a meeting with staff in Belfast last Friday.

He told the assembled staff, “If you’re really that unhappy, if you think that you can’t do your best work here, then leave—no one is forcing you to stay.”

The unions must respond in the only way that will make Thompson listen—strikes.

Bectu, the biggest union at the BBC, has organised leafleting of major workplaces about the job cuts. It is holding meetings all over Britain to discuss the next steps in the campaign.

The union represents many studio staff and has the power to shut down the BBC.

The NUJ has said “no” to the job cuts—but has offered little else. The unions must seize the moment and show BBC bosses they cannot get away with slash and burn.