ARLA/CLUSTER: BBC planeia encerrar mais centros emissores depois de Rampisham

[João Costa > CT1FBF]

Rampisham transmitter site to close by Christmas

Members of the Media & Entertainment union at the Rampisham shortwave
transmitter site in Dorset run by Babcock Engineering were shocked to
learn of plans to close the facility by Christmas with the loss of 19
jobs.

Staff across the UK had been expecting bad news after the decision by
BBC World Service in January this year to sharply reduce the number of
hours of shortwave broadcasting and to end it altogether by 2014.

Despite this advance warning, the announcement still came as a shock
to staff. The company also plans to close three posts at the
Woofferton site in Shropshire with four at Orfordness in Suffolk also
at risk of closure.

An initial meeting between BECTU representatives and management took
place on Wednesday; the consultation period is due to end on 19
September.

BECTU Assistant general secretary Luke Crawley said: “The loss of 19
jobs at Rampisham and seven elsewhere in the network will come as a
terrible blow to our members. We have already pressed the management
to do everything they can to minimise the impact including offering
redeployment and retraining where appropriate. Transmission members
will note with regret that this announcement will also end seventy
years of shortwave broadcasting from Rampisham.”

BECTU has strongly criticised the coalition government for pushing
through a 16 per cent cut in the grant provided to the World Service
from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). This was considerably
higher than the 10 per cent cut in the FCO budget for other areas. It
was this disproportionate reduction which lead the BBC to decide to
reduce shortwave broadcasts immediately and end them by 2014.

BECTU’s campaign against the unfair settlement included giving
evidence to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee in Parliament. The
highly critical report which followed led to some funds being restored
to the World Service. However the representations did not persuade the
BBC to change its mind about ending shortwave transmission despite the
fact that, according to BECTU, listeners to shortwave make up half of
the World Service audience.

Fontes: Media Network, BECTU