Staff at the BBC's Nottingham centre will strike for 48 hours this week over plans which a union says will 'leave a lasting impact on local radio'. Well-known presenters, including BBC Radio Nottingham's Mark Dennison, have announced they are leaving the corporation amid controversial plans for its radio stations across the country.
BBC staff first walked out in March over the plans, before calling off a planned strike last month whilst fresh proposals were considered. The NUJ said the revised plans would have removed the redundancy risk from 300 journalists and three extra pairs of weekend breakfast shows would have been provided, but these plans were rejected by its members.NUJ members will therefore go on strike across Wednesday and Thursday .
This week's strike will include staff from BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC East Midlands Today and East Midlands news online, with over 80 percent of NUJ members across England backing the walkout. Jason Horton, the Director of Production for BBC Local, has previously outlined the corporation's position by saying: "This is a transformation programme not a savings plan.
But opposition continues to grow against the BBC's plans, with Rolling Stones legend Ronnie Wood lending his support to the NUJ's campaign in a recent tweet. NUJ members also recently passed a vote of no confidence in the senior leadership of BBC Local, with 93 percent of those polled saying they did not back current managers.