BBC journalists strike delayed

A second strike by BBC journalists in protest at compulsory redundancies has been put back by three days.

The National Union of Journalists said a planned walkout on July 29 had been called off, and the action will be held on August 1 instead.

The union said the decision had been taken in response to feedback from its members at the corporation, adding that it was continuing to make "intense efforts" to hold talks at the conciliation service Acas.

In an internal circular, the NUJ said: "We also continue putting forward alternative suggestions to try to resolve the cases of the individuals immediately faced with compulsory redundancy.

"To date BBC has not agreed either to a meeting at Acas or to any of the proposals we have put forward to deal with the individual cases.

"We believe the BBC needs to take its responsibilities as a public sector organisation seriously and attempt to resolve this dispute in a proper manner at Acas, rather than putting egos before audiences."

Thousands of BBC journalists went on strike last Friday, disrupting radio and TV programmes.

A BBC spokesman said: "We are disappointed that the NUJ has chosen to take industrial action over these redundancies.

"Industrial action does not alter the fact that the BBC is faced with a number of potential compulsory redundancies following significant cuts to the central Government grants that support the World Service and BBC Monitoring.

"We will continue with our efforts to reduce the need for compulsory redundancies; however, the number of posts that we are having to close means that unfortunately it is likely to be impossible for us to avoid some compulsory redundancies."

PA