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Broadcasting unions, led by Bectu, met today to decide on industrial action prompted by the proposed job cuts in the radio and music division planned by director-general Mark Thompson.

Luke Crawley, Bectu negotiator, said: "Bectu union members are very angry and are prepared to strike. If the BBC want to improve their offer then the time is now."

Up to 500 union members are set to strike over the planned cull, which will result in 239 jobs in radio and music being lost with 124 new posts created.

As part of the radio restructure, three jobs are effectively being merged into one in the division. Unions will be seeking concessions on pay and the amount of work new staff will have to cope with.

The argument about the radio and music job cuts has been raging for more than a year, since Thompson announced the department was to be hit by the 3,780 staff cuts.

BBC director of radio Jenny Abramsky wrote in an email to staff last year: "I am sorry we haven't reached agreement, but we are convinced that for BBC radio to meet the challenges of the new multimedia, interactive, on-demand world, we need this vital new role."

It came to a head in a ballot just before Christmas where members voted to strike. 

A BBC spokesman would not comment on what radio shows would be affected by the strikes.

In other BBC departments, including sport, children and new media, Thompson agreed that talks, originally supposed to be concluded in December, should be extended until April 1, with managers "under an obligation to redouble" their efforts to minimise compulsory redundancies.

BBC unions pledged to fight for all job cuts to be voluntary in a campaign last year, which culminated in a strike on May 23.

A third of the BBC's workforce failed to show up for work resulting in Radio 4's 'Today' programme, 'The World at One' and 'The World Tonight' being cancelled.

BBC One's '1 O'Clock News' and '6 O'Clock News' was shortened from half an hour to 15 minutes and live programming of BBC News 24, BBC World and Five Live was extensively cut.

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