Deadenders Production to be hit by strike

[alan45]

EASTENDERS crew members will today walk out on strike, threatening production of the soap.
Camera operators and sound technicians will down tools after bosses axed travel-to-work payments costing £100,000.
Bectu say staff face losing £5,000 to £10,000 a year each.
Broadcasting union Bectu hopes the 24-hour stoppage will delay episodes and is planning a further THREE days of walk-outs this month.
An insider said: "Any stoppages can have a big knock-on effect as to what ends up on screen."
Union bosses last night wrote to actors to get cast members to back the strike, although they cannot "down tools" by law.
But BBC Studios chief Mark Thomas said: "We cannot afford to reimburse travel-to-work claims at a time when other colleagues are losing their jobs."
The BBC said it will draft in extra staff.


Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/soaps/3091942/Threat-to-EastEnders-in-strike-by-crew.html#ixzz0wLJOFlEB


I would be happy to work for just the travelling expenses they claim.

Still every cloud has a silver lining

[Abigail]

Hang on, the rest of the world has to pay for their own travel to work and back. Its not something that should be reimbursed.

Whilst I support industrial action when its needed, this just sounds like a few people throwing the toys out of the pram.

[alan45]

Its the people who pay the Telly Tax that are actually paying these people.

[alan45]

Filming on BBC soap EastEnders is going ahead as planned today despite a one-day strike which is being carried out by crew members.

A number of camera operators and sound technicians have walked out in a row over travel-to-work payments, which have been axed in an attempt to cut costs.

Today's strike only affects programme crew as they are employed separately by BBC Studios and Post Production, which is at the centre of the dispute.

According to The Sun, broadcasting union Bectu has indicated that workers will each lose £5,000 to £10,000 per year due to the loss of their travel reimbursements.

Speaking of the strike, BBC Studios chief Mark Thomas said: "We cannot afford to reimburse travel-to-work claims at a time when other colleagues are losing their jobs."

Contrary to some speculation, there is no suggestion that the walk-out will cause disruption or delays to EastEnders episodes as extra staff have been recruited to fill in.

An EastEnders spokesperson said: "Contingency plans have been put in place to ensure that despite the action, recording will continue and EastEnders production will not be affected."

[Chloe O'brien]

They should be dam grateful they still have a job to hang on to. As Abi hundregail said there are thousands of working class people who have to fork out hundreds of pounds on petrol or public transport just to get to work and they don't get reimbursed