Radio Shetland off air as staff join national BBC strike

BBC Radio Shetland will be off the air tomorrow as staff members join a national 24-hour strike in protest at compulsory redundancies in the corporation.

The action will stop the broadcast of the Lerwick station’s lunchtime news bulletin, evening news mag­azine and the weekly request pro­gramme Give Us A Tune, due to be hosted by Barbara Cheyne.

The day of action has been called by the National Union of Journalists. Instead of BBC management select­ing staff members for the boot it wants workers who are willing to leave to be given the chance of voluntary redundancy.

The NUJ’s father of the chapel for Aberdeen, Dundee, Orkney and Shetland, Colin Wight, said mem­bers regretted the disruption to the radio service but felt that waste and unfair pay should be addressed by the BBC rather than ordinary mem­bers of staff being forced from their jobs.