Union demands minimum wage of £20,000 for BBC production staff

The union representing low-paid production workers at the BBC is stepping up demands for a minimum salary of £20,000.

Bectu said it was "unjustifiable" for the corporation to focus on the earnings of those on more than £150,000 when thousands of engineers, technical and other production staff were paid a fraction of that amount.

Gerry Morrissey, leader of Bectu - now part of the Prospect union - said something should be done about low pay.

He told the Press Association: "We have had a claim in for two years for a minimum wage of £20,000 rather than the current £16,000.

"It is totally unacceptable that the BBC is prepared to pay senior management and others many times that amount.

"There should be a lot more focus on giving low-paid staff a decent living wage."

Mr Morrissey said more than 2,500 production staff were paid less than £20,000.