Siemens staff at BBC threaten industrial action

Siemens unable to deliver DMI

IT staff working for the BBC’s contractor, Siemens, are currently balloting for strike action as a result of the broadcaster’s decision to introduce a pay freeze.

Siemens signed a 10-year contract with the broadcaster in 2005 to deliver an enterprise integration architecture layer and other key technologies.

The deal was struck after the BBC closed its BBC Technology division; most of the staff currently working on the Siemens contract were originally employed by BBC Technology.

The ballot for action follows a rejected claim for a £1,200 pay increase per Siemens employee submitted by broadcasting union Bectu in October, although Bectu national official Suresh Chaula said its members would have accepted £450 per head.

There are currently 600 staff working on the Siemens account and 200 of those are Becta members.

The IT company rejected the pay claim but said it would consider performance-related pay increases. This was unanimously rejected by Bectu’s members.

This move comes when relations between the contractor and its employees at the BBC are “at an all time low” according to Chaula, as it follows 70 redundancies made in the Projects and Media Systems division - the consultation period for these redundancies was completed in January.

There are a further 50 jobs at risk in the Network and Server Operations division, which is being outsourced to Romania.

“The pay freeze comes on the back of a series of redundancies and restructurings initiated by Siemens and so adds insult to injury," Chaula said.

Chaula speculated that relations between the IT supplier and the broadcaster were strained when the former was unable to take ownership of the Digital Media Initiative, a project that includes digitising media capture, post production, and the digitising of the BBC's archive. The initiative has since been in-sourced to the BBC's Future Media and Technology (FMT) division.

“FMT is growing on a weekly basis, and we would not be surprised to see further Siemens staff moved from that account and back into the BBC.”

In a statement the BBC said: "As the BBC's technology partner, Siemens are responsible for keeping our services on-air and online. They have kept us informed as talks have progressed and assured us that, in the event of strike action, contingency plans are in place to ensure there will be no adverse effect on audiences."‬