BBC journalists have voted overwhelmingly in favour of going on strike to protest against plans to cut about 20 per cent of the workforce at the publicly funded broadcaster.
About 84 per cent of BBC employees represented by the National Union of Journalists voted in favour of the strike, according to General Secretary Jeremy Dear today.
"This result is a reflection of the huge anger at the scale and impact of (Director General) Mark Thompson's cuts," he said. The NUJ will meet Amicus and BECTU, two other unions representing BBC employees, tomorrow to plan the industrial action.
The NUJ said the unions "will renew their call for the BBC to drop its opposition to meaningful negotiations with the unions, in a last-ditch bid to avoid the need for strike action."
Over the next three years, the BBC plans to axe around 4,000 jobs from a workforce of 21,000 to save about 355 million pounds ($670 million).
Under industrial relations legislation, which requires unions to give advance notice of any action, the earliest date for action would be May 19th.
The BBC declined to comment.