Journalists at the BBC’s Arabic Service will strike for 48 hours from tomorrow (18 January) in a dispute over work rotas being imposed by management. “The NUJ [National Union of Journalists] has repeated consistently its willingness to sit down with management to try to resolve this issue sensibly and reasonably,” said NUJ organiser Laura Davison. “We have again stressed we are prepared to take the problem to the conciliation service ACAS, but the BBC has not taken us up on the offer.
“Journalists at the BBC’s Arabic Service regard management’s proposal as unworkable, believe it will disrupt people’s lives, increase levels of work-related stress, and prove to be a false economy. The NUJ chapel has put forward its own proposals to management, but has been met with a negative response, leaving dedicated journalists with no alternative to taking industrial action.”
(Source: National Union of Journalists)
