BBC journalists to strike: Derry Mayor & MPs Colum Eastwood and Gregory Campbell pen urgent joint letter

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr Sandra Duffy, Foyle MP Colum Eastwood and East Derry MP Gregory Campbell have written a joint letter to Mr Smyth seeking an urgent meeting.

National Union of Journalists members working across BBC Radio Foyle and the rest of BBC Northern Ireland will take part in 24 hour strike action this Friday, May 19 on the first day of the Council election count.

Earlier this year all three of the politicians aforementioned met with the BBC in London to discuss the proposed cuts at the station and threat to jobs.

In the letter to the BBC director, the elected representatives said: “We are hugely concerned that if the strike action goes ahead this week it will have a detrimental impact on the reporting of local democracy in the North West.

“The loss of the flagship Breakfast Show programme and its replacement of a 30-minute news slot is insufficient to meet the needs of the region and we will be urging the BBC to rethink their decision and reinstate the Breakfast programme in full or to at least extend it to an hour-long broadcast.”

Calling for an urgent multi-political meeting, the local elected representatives said they were keen to find out from the BBC what their plans are to mitigate for the Election Count in the North West and would also be seeking reassurances from them about the future stability of the station.

An industrial action ballot of NUJ members at BBC NI resulted in 83% voting in favour of strike action.

It comes after the BBC cut programmes at Radio Foyle and implemented other changes as it sought to seek £2.3m in savings, the NUJ said.

The union said its members believe the BBC’s restructuring plans will impact resources and their ability to deliver quality programmes across Northern Ireland.

"For example, last month the Radio Foyle Breakfast Show was dramatically altered, now 30 minutes instead of its original two-hour duration.

"Communities across Northern Ireland have expressed dismay and anger over the impact of cuts to services, urging the BBC to rethink plans,” a spokesperson said.

When the restructuring plans were first confirmed back in November 2022, BBC Northern Ireland said they were ‘to facilitate the enhancement of its digital video and online services and the savings that it will need to make over the coming period’.

At that time BBC NI said it was ‘proposing to close approximately 35-40 posts to contribute to its £2.3 million savings and reinvestment plans’.

Adam Smyth, Interim Director, BBC Northern Ireland, said: “These are challenging times and we face some difficult choices, none of which are easy."

"We have to find monies to maintain and develop our local presence on BBC iPlayer and to absorb cost pressures across different aspects of our work. Our concern in all of this will be to safeguard audience value and benefit and to remain mindful of the impact that this announcement will have on BBC staff in Northern Ireland.”