BBC Scotland is to be severely disrupted today when hundreds of staff walk out at midday in a protest at job cuts.

Staff from the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and those belonging to the Bectu union will walk out for a 12-hour strike.

It is likely to force the cancellation of news programming, radio shows and online content.

Around 200 NUJ staff and 500 Bectu backstage and technical staff will walk out of the BBC's headquarters in Glasgow, as well as its offices in Edinburgh.

One union source said BBC Scotland's unrecorded output will be almost completely hamstrung by the walkout, a national strike protesting against the cutting of 2000 jobs in the UK over five years by the corporation as part of a savings programme.

Paul Holleran, the Scottish organiser of the NUJ, said: "The message from this strike will be to stop what they are doing and think again."

Bectu are particularly concerned about "excessive workloads causing increasing reports of stress, bullying and harassment."

The strike action will be followed by a work-to-rule.

A spokesman for BBC Scotland said: "We are extremely disappointed the unions have gone ahead with the strike and apologise to our audiences for the disruption to services."