Find details here of BECTU's latest campaigns and projects. Use the information here to take part.
Campaign list
- BBC Pay and Pensions
- Campaign on pay and pensions for BBC staff launched 2 July 2010.
- BBC Vision Fixed Term Contracts Campaign 2012
- Fixed but Fair - Know your rights on fixed term contracts.
If you work for the BBC on a fixed term contract it is important that you know your contractual and employment rights to avoid 'misunderstandings' along the way. Please go to this campaign news page to fill out the 2012 survey; you'll also find there the BBC's formal policy on fixed term contracts (otherwise known as a BBC Agreement) and a handy summary of what to check for.
To help BECTU to get an overview of how fixed term contracts are being deployed currently in BBC Vision and to help those who may be falling between the cracks in the system, please take five minutes to fill out our 2012 survey NO LATER THAN Monday 20 August. - Co-operative Cast and Crew
- The UMF project - dubbed Co-operative Cast and Crew - and partly funded by BIS was set up to research and help develop a co-operative agency that would not charge an upfront fee, such fees being an economic barrier for most members. BECTU believes strongly that work is not something individuals should have to pay for through the charging of such fees.
This research and development project was designed to help provide a modern day framework for some of the most vulnerable workers who are regularly exploited by rogue agents in the audio-visual industry. The project, run over two years from 2012-2011, has contributed to the effectiveness of BECTU, strengthening our understanding of the co-operative model, an innovative approach in the struggle to protect the employments rights of freelancers.
These pages (see Resources tab in particular) include the following information:
1. The final project evaluation report covering the learning, recommendations and actions of the project.
2. A report by BECTU and Co-operatives UK into the two year project which looked at the suitability and prospects for using the co-operative model to support freelances in the entertainment sector.
3. Guidance produced by Co-operatives UK on sources of support, finance, what is a co-op, legal structures and the merits of co-ops.
4. Co-operative Cast and Crew project report published December 2010; covers the work undertaken by BECTU and Co-operatives UK during 2010 to examine the prospects for the adoption of the co-operative model by groups of entertainment sector freelances.
5. What is a co-operative? Find out more by reading the document prepared by Co-operatives UK as part of its collaboration with BECTU on its UMF3 project: Co-operative Cast and Crew. - Delivering Quality First
On 6 October 2011, the BBC announced its strategy for dealing with the 16% loss in income created by the agreement with government to freeze the licence fee until 2017. Two thousand job losses were announced coupled with cuts to staff terms and conditions and cuts to a range of output under the banner Delivering Quality First.
BECTU believes that unchanged the proposals will destroy quality at the BBC rather than deliver it. The union is campaigning to persuade the BBC to re-think its plans. These pages link together the latest campaign stories, information and resources.- End BBC Contractors Poverty Pay
- Campaign in support of BBC contractor staff launching November 2012.
Please sign our petition here:
www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/end-poverty-pay-for-contractor-workers-at-the-bbc
Many of the staff who make the BBC work are paid poverty wages, significantly below the London Living Wage of £8.55* an hour. Catering staff who run the kitchens and cafeterias, porters who make sure that operations run smoothly and cleaners who look after office and production spaces are often paid little over the National Minimum Wage. These workers are not BBC employees, but are contracted out to multinational companies such as Johnson Controls International and Aramark, which turn huge profits by squeezing workplaces conditions to little over the minimum allowed by law. Workers are often not paid night shift premiums for doing long, anti social hours of tough, physical labour. Workers report that cutbacks mean they are often taking on ever heavier workloads.
The BBC has promised to ensure that salaries for contract workers will be increased when the contracts are renewed, but this is too late for staff who sometimes find it impossible to make ends meet.
BECTU, the media and entertainment union representing staff at the BBC, is calling on the BBC to ensure that Aramark and JCI treat their workers with dignity and pay them at least the London Living Wage.
An estimated one-in-five workers across the UK are earning below the Living Wage.
*The UK Living Wage - £7.20 as at November 2012; £8.55 in London - is an hourly rate of pay set independently and updated annually. It is calculated according to the basic cost of living in the UK, and employers choose to pay the Living Wage on a voluntary basis. - Organising VFX
The skills of visual effects artists (VFX) are being increasingly celebrated however this recognition is not matched by the standards of their working conditions. VFX artists have approached BECTU for help; the organising campaign kicks off officially on Wednesday 3 April 2013. Visit the Diary page for details of the launch event.- Protecting Copyright
- BECTU is part of the industry coalition which is campaigning for greater protections for creative rights against illegal downloads. The union also works with the Industry Trust on this issue.
- Say No To Exploitation In TV
Close to 350 people took part in BECTU's survey into working conditions in Factuals run during January 2013. Strong and consistent themes emerged which underline the importance of the Say No to Exploitation in TV campaign.
Find out more behind the News tab in this area.
If you didn't take part in the survey and want to share your experience please write to us at indies@bectu.org.uk
You'll also find a space to comment in the Blog area.
We are continuing to appeal to sector employers to examine their working practices and to make positive changes; we'll also be approaching the commissioners as we recognise that their influence over budgets and their 'hands-off' approach to the way independents make their programmes is very much part of the problem. We welcome your input and invite you not only to back the campaign but to join BECTU. Special joining rates will apply until 2 April 2013. Application form behind the Resources tab.
(A sister campaign was launched in November 2012 focused on building union organisation to counter the long hours forced on staff and freelances working on BBC productions. Email smason@bectu.org.uk)
Follow the campaigns on twitter @nototvabuse
