The Londoner: BBC in turmoil as women want strike

BBC Women "desperate" to strike / David Cameron's Ivy breakfast date / What has Annabel Goldsmith been up to? / Cornish independence goes quietly / Mark Rylance likes his noisy critics
Marching orders: Female BBC employees
AFP/Getty Images
12 June 2018

Could this be the BBC’s summer of the discontent? Strikes are “looming”, according to sources, with some wanting to picket over equal pay. Others, we were told, are angry over changes to contract terms and conditions. Despite this, a representative of the corporation insists that a wide variation in Terms and Conditions has been agreed by the unions and will lead to a simplified, more consistent and fair offer for staff.

BBC Women, the group formed following revelations in October that male presenters received sums approximately four times more than female colleagues, are frustrated by the slow pace of the equal-pay negotiations and are “desperate” to strike. They are being calmed by union representatives, who have explained the complicated legal procedures required before action can be taken. “A number have approached union reps to ask if they can strike and they’ve been told it’s not that simple,” says a source. “Rules around industrial action —whether strikes or work to rule — are tight.” Carrie Gracie became a figurehead for gender pay after resigning as China editor in January because her opposite numbers in Washington and the Middle East were paid up to £249,000 and £199,000 compared to her £135,000.

Tony Hall defended the salary gap, saying there were “differences” in the “scope and scale” of their work. Last night, however, the urgent issue facing management was terms and conditions proposals. After 18 months of protracted negotiations, NUJ and Bectu members voted on action. Unite’s ballot closes on Thursday.

Management wants to scrap “unpredictability allowances” (UPAs) — money for having to come in at inconvenient hours and short notice (defined as 14 days) — which cost £30 million a year but only generate £11 million — and are described as “unfair and inconsistent”. As some UPAs are written into contracts and pensionable, they are effectively pay. “And once you’ve got UPA in your contract, you tend to keep it,” says a source. Worse than anything, the source continues, is the “emotional toll” all the disputes are taking on BBC workers.

A spokesperson states that the BBC are attempting a new approach to scheduling and working that will balance its need for flexibility, with their employees' need for optimum work/life balance. that we are seeking a new approach to scheduling and working which balances the business’ need for flexibility with employees’ need for a work/life balance. The UPA/Flexibility allowance will no longer be used, and employees receiving it would have it frozen as legacy payments and pro-rataed. This also removes employee commitment to have to work at short notice, replacing it with new arrangements.

“This process has been the culmination of 18 months hard work between the BBC and the unions", a spokesperson said this afternoon. "The deal we have reached offers fairness and equality for staff across the organisation and otherwise clearly would not have been recommended to their members by the unions. We believe that the majority of staff and unions members will see this deal as a positive step forward as we continue to modernise the BBC.”

BECTU and NUJ members have voted in favour of the proposed changes.

A 31-min Fortnite at the Rees-Moggs

Do Jacob Rees-Mogg’s children play the controversial shoot-’em-up game Fortnite? The Tory MP for North East Somerset told LBC he was unfamiliar with the highly addictive game but “the first thing they say to me in the mornings is, ‘Can I have a go on the iPad?’” He adds: “I’m trying to train them to say good morning first.” But Rees-Mogg is a soft touch. “I give them 31 minutes: they get an extra minute to find it and then the alarm goes off.” And if well-behaved “they may get another go later”. Ah, today’s feckless youth.

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Steve Double, MP for St Austell and Newquay, led a debate to recognise the Cornish national identity in the 2021 census. It didn’t get off to a great start. “Order,” shouted Speaker John Bercow above the shuffling. “If Members are leaving, I am sure they will do so quickly and quietly.”

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What were Michael Fallon and David Cameron talking about in The Ivy Kensington this morning — an historic day in the Commons ahead of crunch votes on Brexit. “I don’t comment on that sort of stuff,” said Cameron. So were they plotting? “Not plotting, just reminiscing,” said Fallon with a cheeky smile. “Talking about times past.”

Furnish and dad-to-be Gandy head a well-turned out crowd at Neptune

Checks away: David Furnish with models Darren Kennedy, Harvey Newton-Haydon, Toby Huntington-Whiteley and Johannes Huebl  (Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) 
Dave Benett/Getty Images

David Furnish, film-maker and husband of Sir Elton John, joined a well-dressed crowd last night at GQ’s Men’s Fashion Week dinner at Neptune, the restaurant at Bloomsbury hotel The Principal. Furnish has had a busy few months: he attended the royal wedding in May and has been working on Rocketman, an Elton John biopic starring Kingsman actor Taron Egerton.

Furnish was joined by model David Gandy, who is “thrilled” to be expecting a child with his girlfriend Stephanie Mendoros, a criminal lawyer. “We’re going to need a bigger car,” he said this week. “It’s our first. It’s all very new to us. It’s going to be fun.”

Over at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, Juliet Stevenson and Celia Imrie attended the press night performance of Monogamy. The play, a social satire about a celebrity chef, stars Genevieve Gaunt.

SW1A

Zac Goldsmith, Conservative MP for Richmond, Park, found a poem taped to a lamppost outside his constituency office. Choice lines included: “45 votes/No thanks, Zac Goldsmith” and “We don’t want you moneyed sons of gold and children of Roth”. Goldsmith (below) calls it “interesting”, but questioned whether “Roth” should read “wrath” or if it was “an abbreviation of Rothschild”. “If so, my mother has some serious questions to answer.”

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John McDonnell would have fallen foul of new anti-terror plans and been prosecuted for historic offences, according to John Woodcock MP. Last night he recalled the shadow chancellor saying that “the ballot, the bullet and the bomb” would end British rule in Northern Ireland. “If my understanding of the new legislation is right, had that legislation been in place at the time when the honourable member apparently made those remarks, he would have been guilty of a terrorist offence.”

Quote of the day

‘Those who say it can not be done should not interrupt those doing it.’ Ivanka Trump tweets a “Chinese Proverb” as her father talks peace with North Korea. The Chinese say they’ve never heard the phrase

All the right noises

Theatregoers who talk or rustle food wrappers during a play aren’t doing anything wrong, according to Mark Rylance, actor and former Shakespeare’s Globe director. He blames actors for not doing enough to keep audiences’ attention. “Surely [the audience] should be allowed to do what they want,” he says. “If they’re making noise then you’re not holding them. You’re not telling the story well enough. But to complain about them, that can’t be right.” His comments were made during the International Theatre Engineering and Architecture Conference. He added that all his contracts stipulate his voice must never be “amplified”.

Art buff: Salma Hayek (Photo Stephane Cardinale/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images

Salma Hayek supported a fellow Mexican yesterday, sneaking into the new Serpentine Pavilion to meet its designer, Frida Escobedo. Hayek is quite the art buff: she will host tomorrow’s opening party for the V&A’s Frida Kahlo exhibition.

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