NUJ members at BBC NI to go ahead with strike on election results day

The 24-hour strike will begin at 00:15 BST on Friday 19 May

Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in BBC Northern Ireland have decided to go ahead with a 24-hour strike on Friday 19 May.

That is likely to affect the corporation's coverage of the council election results.

Counting begins across Northern Ireland on Friday morning.

In response, a BBC spokesperson said they "deeply regret the negative impact strike action will have on BBC services on election results day".

A planned work to rule by union members on Saturday has been suspended.

This action could have also affected coverage of the election results.

• BBC NI journalists to strike on election results day

• BBC Northern Ireland to cut 36 posts to save money

The decisions on the action were taken during a meeting of NUJ members in BBC Northern Ireland on Thursday.

The poll to decide who will be elected to Northern Ireland's 11 councils is taking place on Thursday.

The NUJ strike action will begin at 00:15 BST on Friday 19 May and end at 00:15 on Saturday 20 May.

The action is in opposition to proposed cuts to jobs and programmes in the BBC.

The BBC is in a position where it has to make significant financial savings but it is also investing more money in online services.

However there have been changes to BBC Radio Foyle in particular, where a half-hour news programme entitled The North West Today has replaced the two-hour Breakfast show.

In their statement a BBC spokesperson said: "We are glad to have been able to offer roles to all 'at risk' staff during the redundancy process.

"The BBC's region-wide programming from Foyle has been increased and its net staffing levels will be maintained.

"Our engagement with staff and the trade unions will continue."

'Series of problems'

Paul Siegert of the NUJ said a lot of progress had been made in talks with management but there were still some outstanding issues.

"There isn't one problem there is a series of problems, the breakfast show at [Radio] Foyle which was two hours and is now just 30 minutes is one of the key issues we are trying to resolve," he told BBC News NI.

Mr Siegert added that there was a "general unhappiness" in the Belfast newsroom, with a series of problems having built up over time.

The NUJ has previously said that the dispute is bigger than Radio Foyle and about cuts to local journalism across BBC Northern Ireland.