Invite to join theatre focus groups

BECTU is inviting West End theatre workers to take part in focus groups looking at the updating of roles in nine job families.

The programme of workshops, which kicks off next month (October), marks a key stage in BECTU’s work with the employers’ association, the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), in redesigning job roles for the 21st century.

Those taking part in the workshops will review the job descriptions which have been drawn up to make sure that they reflect the staff’s experience of their jobs.

Discussions will centre on costume and wardrobe, wigs and make-up, automation, stage, box office, electrics, sound, front of house and stage door and security.

The focus groups will take place at the Radisson Edwardian Mountbatten Hotel, off Seven Dials, Covent Garden, WC2, from 13-31 October 2008.

The focus group programme is as follows:

• Monday 13 October - Electrics
• Tuesday 14 October - Stage
• Thursday 16 October - Costume
• Monday 20 October - Wigs and Make-Up
• Thursday 23 October - Automation
• Friday 24 October - Sound
• Monday 27 October - Stage Door and Security
• Tuesday 28 October - Box Office
• Friday 31 October - Front of House

All sessions take place between 1400-1700. Refreshments will be provided and out of pocket expenses can be met.

The invitation to take part is extended to both BECTU members and non-members and there is space for 10-12 people at each session. Those interested should email [email protected] with their name, address and department, or call Yvonne Smith on 020 7346 0982.

The revision of job descriptions is part of a bigger project which seeks to modernise the longstanding SOLT/BECTU agreement. BECTU believes that that agreement is out of step with the way staff work today and does not value jobs correctly.

Kate Elliott, a member of BECTU’s training team, sums up the aims of the project: “The end result will be a modern versatile agreement and better pay and conditions for our members in the West End.

“We hope the new agreement will serve as a blueprint for other theatres around the country.”

Once the focus groups have done their work, the job descriptions will be passed to negotiators for BECTU and SOLT who will determine what rates of pay and grading should be applied to the revised roles.

See the flyer [176k pdf] for more details.