Talks aimed at resolving the BBC dispute got under way today, with union leaders urging the corporation to start "proper negotiations" over its controversial plans to axe almost 4,000 jobs.
Thousands of journalists and technicians will stage a 48-hour walkout from next Tuesday if the meeting breaks down.
Union leaders and BBC managers arrived at the London headquarters of the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service for the talks, which were expected to last all day.
Luke Crawley, the national officer of broadcasting union Bectu, said as he arrived: "We are hoping to begin proper negotiations. The BBC now have an opportunity to talk with us and if that is the case we will be here for a long time. If not, we will be out by lunchtime."
Mike Smallwood, the national officer of Amicus, which represents hundreds of electricians at the BBC, said the unions did not want to be "dictated to" by the corporation about the level of job losses.
"One of our many concerns is about the workload on people who will be left after the job losses. We hope to sit down with the corporation and put forward the concerns of our members and hopefully the corporation will move away from its position of arbitrary 20% job cuts."
The BBC was represented by Stephen Dando, the director of BBC People, and Adrian van Klaveren, the deputy director of BBC news. They declined to comment as they arrived.
Tony Studd, a national conciliator at Acas, was chairing the talks.
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