BBC bosses savaged over fat-cat bonuses

Unions have attacked BBC executives for failing to follow the decision of Mark Thompson, the Director-General, who has waivered his right to a fat-cat bonus, in light of 4,000 planned job losses at the national broadcaster., Bectu, the broadcast and technical workers’ Union and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), said yesterday that members of the executive board, which include heads of department, should hand back the hefty bonuses they received last year., They came at a time of uncertainty and redundancy for 3,780 BBC workers, as a new report reveals six-figure executive salaries were topped up by bonuses, averaging 24 per cent of annual salary., Mark Thompson e-mailed his staff and colleagues yesterday alerting them to his “personal decision” to refuse a bonus of up £135,900, recommending that future bonuses should not exceed an annual salary rate of 10 per cent., But for Union officials, Mr Thompson‘s efforts do not go far enough and while they welcomed his action, they criticised it for not recommending his colleagues should also hand back their bonuses., Gerry Morrissey, the assistant general secretary of Bectu, said that people should not be rewarded for making their workers redundant, and added a warning that any job-cutting programme would now be “much more difficult than expected.”, Citing figures for this year showing that 16 senior executives have enjoyed £718,000 in bonuses and taxable benefits, Mr Morrissey accused top BBC management of “feathering their own nests.”, He added: “Staff are not going to accept job cuts, especially compulsory redundancies, easily while the bosses who planned them in the first place are giving themselves fat-cat bonuses.”, Bectu’s website revealed first-hand yesterday how BBC workers felt confused about the bonus regime, while remaining disillusioned with the corporation–wide strategy to cull permanent jobs., One member of staff from BBC Bristol commented: “I was under the impression that bonuses were rewarded for improvement in business? , “Where’s the improvement?” asked the worker. “No morale, no staff, no support systems that really work. So can I have a 30% bonus instead of a 3.5 per cent pay rise?”, BBC staff salaries are often less than a tenth of those paid to senior executives, prompting a recent internal decision to vote for a 3.5 per cent pay offer, in the face of job cuts, privatisation and low morale., A one-day strike in protest to the job cuts, outsourcing programme and privatisation was launched in May, when Unions warned of more industrial action should further redundancies be announced, or in the absence of negotiation., Mark Thompson’s annual pay packet, including the rejected bonus, now stands at £560,000 – three times more than Tony Blair’s annual salary., The highest fat-cat bonus went to Mark Byford, the deputy Director General, whose £92,000 reward elevates him to a basic pay of £457,000.