Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) employed by BBC Lincolnshire were part of the 48-hour strike that began on Friday. The strike was held to highlight the opposition to the corporation’s proposed pension reforms.
The journalists in Lincolnshire formed part of a national strike which saw some of the BBC’s key shows, including Newsnight, temporarily cancelled.
Father of the Chapel Jake Zuckerman, outside the BBC Lincolnshire building said: “We don’t think that they have been straight with us… we think it is a smokescreen. We think what they are trying to do, instead of plugging a deficit in the pensions scheme, is to make cuts on the sly.”
The NUJ website states that the new pension plans will “see staff paying more in contributions and working longer and getting less in retirement”.
Zuckerman stated that roughly a quarter of the BBC Lincolnshire staff are NUJ members.
On the strike he added that: “We don’t like striking, we aren’t doing it because it’s fun, we love our jobs and it hurts us to not do them.”
Another 48-hour strike is planned for November 15th and 16th.