Members reject BBCT sale again

BECTU members affected by the sale of BBC Technology have voted against their privatisation for the second time.

The sell-off was rejected by 94.9% of members voting in a postal ballot, although a terms-and-conditions package negotiated by the union was accepted by more than two-thirds.

BBC Technology, with more than 1,300 staff, was sold on October 1 2004 to Siemens Business Services for £150 million, after a campaign against the sell-off that began in late 2003. The most recent ballot was run to establish whether members were willing to agree to a set of guarantees won by BECTU during discussions with Siemens since July.

Among the guarantees, which were accepted by 69.8% of voters, were a commitment to no changes in conditions of service or pension entitlements for the first three years under new ownership, as well as a promise of no compulsory redundancies for the first 12 months.

Despite maintaining opposition to the sale, and efforts to mount strike action against it, the union presented the package to members as one of the best that had been negotiated with the BBC in any previous out-sourcing exercise.

In a separate question on the ballot paper, members were asked whether they opposed the sale in principle, and almost nineteen out of twenty expressed their opposition, echoing an earlier ballot which took place before the sale went ahead.

BBC management have claimed that the sale was driven by the attraction of savings, promised by Siemens, of more than £30m on the £210m bill paid by the BBC each year for IT, Broadcast Engineering, telephones, and technical project work.

However union officials believe that the sale was clinched by the £150m that Siemens offered to pay for the shares of BBC Technology Holdings Ltd, which was previously a wholly-owned subsidiary of the BBC. Corporation accounts have revealed a cash deficit of £249m in 2003/4, and some of the cash raised by selling BBC Technology will help to pay off the BBC's overdraft before its current Royal Charter expires at the end of 2006.