New technology

33 Fisher Technology continued to act as consultants to BECTU on the implementation of the decision to replace the membership computer system. Before starting work on the replacement of the membership computer, it was necessary to upgrade the IT network infrastructure in head office and the regions in order that maximum advantage can be taken of the new membership computer system when it is installed, and to ensure millennium date-change compliance. Work on updating the network infrastructure was completed in two stages, in December 1998 and March/April 1999.

34 Fisher Technology assisted the secretariat and the National Executive Committee to shortlist the organisations who were invited to bid for the replacement of the membership database system. Presentations were considered from Thames Information Systems and from Miller Technology. The Thames Information System was a very hi-tech system arguably at the leading edge of new technology, whilst the Miller system offered very considerable improvements over our existing system and was, in the opinion of the National Executive Committee, a more solid and user-friendly system so far as BECTU was concerned. It was therefore decided to award the contract for the replacement of the membership computer to Miller Technology.

35 The transfer between our old system and the new is due to take place between January and June 1999. The National Executive Committee expects that the new system will be installed and up and running by the time conference convenes. Considerable investment has been made by the National Executive Committee in training staff, both in terms of the network infrastructure and the new membership computer.

36 The union's website at www.bectu.org.uk has seen continued growth of the number of users, reflecting higher awareness of the union's presence on the internet and the greater availability of computers with on line facilities. The site presents both a 'public face' to the union nationally and internationally through the internet as well as providing union news and information specifically for BECTU members. The site has proved to be increasingly useful during a number of major disputes, particularly at the BBC and Granada Media Group, as a quick and efficient means of distributing updates on, at times, fast moving events. Divisions involved in such disputes have generally made good use of the website, and it is hoped developments in information technology at the union's offices, along with the greater use of computers by the membership in general, will result in an increase in the volume of contributions to the website. The increasing use of the facilities provided on the website to request membership application information has opened up an additional method of recruitment that is likely to be a growth area in the future.

37 The National Executive Committee believe that the measures it has taken in this area satisfies the proposition carried at the 1998 conference authorising BECTU's head office to take on more new technology in order to better service its membership.

Proposition 3/99 Technology in BECTU (AP7)

That this annual conference instructs the NEC to recognise that the use of technology is increasingly important in industrial campaigns. Consequently e-mail, mobile phones and the internet should be introduced and used by all BECTU National Officers without further delay and used to their best advantage.

Bush House 2

Amendment

In the second sentence, delete ", mobile phones"

London Television News

Subscriptions and recruitment

38 The 1998 annual conference of the union agreed to significant changes in the union's subscription structure, and in particular put in place a banded system for the two production divisions of the union. The National Executive Committee has sought to bring about an orderly transfer of the members from the old subscription structure to the new, and the Deputy General Secretary was given overall charge of this project.

39 The success of the implementation of the banded subscription structure in the two freelance divisions was a major factor in the National Executive Committee determining its income and expenditure forecast for 1999. When the income and expenditure account was presented to the National Executive Committee in November 1998, the assumption was that of the 8,300 freelance members eligible to pay subscriptions in the new banded structure, that from the 1 January 1999 45% would be paying the minimum of £120 with 55% paying at a rate of £96. The amount paying at the minimum of £120 was increased by 5% for each of the quarters in 1999, and the amount paying at £96 was decreased by each of the quarters in 1999.

40 The National Executive Committee is pleased to report that when it considered this matter at its meeting on the 7 March 1999, 68.6% of the 8,300 eligible freelance members were paying at £120 or above, and that the percentage of members paying above band 1 was 34.2%, and the target for the whole of 1999 had now been exceeded. Supplementary report number 2 will be issued.

41 The 1998 annual conference also agreed "that the National Executive Committee shall review subscription income as at the end of 1998, and if in its view it is prudent to do so, it shall authorise that no member paying subscriptions through deductions at source shall pay more than £250 per annum". The National Executive Committee will issue Supplementary report number 3.

42 The National Executive Committee at its meeting on the 23 August 1998 took a number of decisions in respect of the discretion it exercises on reduced subscriptions as set out under rule 10.

43 In particular the National Executive Committee considered the position of the National Visual Artists branch set up some five years ago, whose members had been allowed to pay subscriptions at a rate of £26 per annum in order to aid recruitment into that branch. The National Executive Committee noted that there were currently 26 members of the National Visual Artists branch and that many of those members were paying subscriptions at the unemployed rate of 30p per week. The National Executive Committee decided that members of the National Visual Artists branch be required to pay a flat subscription rate of £60 per annum.

44 The National Executive Committee reviewed the position of graduate/new entrant subscriptions and decided to increase the subscription rate from £25 to £30 per annum for the first full year of membership.

45 The most controversial area examined by the National Executive Committee was that of unemployed members' subscriptions. At the time that the National Executive Committee considered this matter there were between 500 and 600 members paying the current unemployed subscription rate of 30p per week. The National Executive Committee gave careful consideration to the discretion allowed it by rule 10(ii) in circumstances "where members' earnings are substantially reduced or suspended by reason of long term unemployment or sickness…" The National Executive Committee concluded that the definition of long term unemployment in respect of the discretion allowed the National Executive Committee under rule 10 was a period of six months or longer, and that unemployed members should be asked to pay a rate of not less than £60 per annum providing that their long term unemployment had lasted, or was likely to last, for six months or more.

46 The National Executive Committee also reviewed the position of the 200 overseas members and decided to increase the overseas subscription rate from £20 per annum to £25 per annum.

47 The National Executive Committee has, over the past year, continue to place the highest priority on recruitment and retention of members. Both the newly appointed Assistant General Secretaries were asked to attend the November meeting of the Finance & General Purposes Committee to present their recruitment and retention plans for their areas of responsibility for 1999.

Inter-union relations/Directors' Guild

48 BECTU has continued to enjoy good working relations with other unions in the Federation of Entertainment Unions, and the FEU has continued to be an effective forum for an exchange of views between media and audio-visual unions.

Proposition 4/99 Amalgamation with the NUJ (AP2)

That this annual conference instructs the General Secretary and the NEC to seek urgent talks with the National Union of Journalists with the object of seeking amalgamation between BECTU and the NUJ. Further, that should the NUJ be in support of amalgamation, a process be put in place to ensure that a Heads of Agreement or Articles of Amalgamation be prepared in time for either the next Annual Conference or for a Special Conference in 2000, with the aim of balloting the members of both unions before the end of 2000.

London Television News

49 The relationship between BECTU and the Directors' Guild of Great Britain has proved to be more problematic in 1999 than had been anticipated at the time of the last conference. BECTU continues to believe that until a sensible understanding can be reached between the union and the Directors' Guild of Great Britain, that the interests of directors in the UK will not be effectively represented by either body.

50 Building on the Union's joint campaign with the Directors' and Producers' Rights Society (DPRS) and the Directors' Guild of Great Britain to seek full recognition of the new status of freelance directors, as authors and co-owners of the first copyright in film and television programmes, BECTU has been actively engaged in action to achieve new collective agreements in ITV embodying full payment for repeats and secondary use of their work. Director members throughout the union were circulated with the draft claim for comment prior to its submission by BECTU to the ITV companies, initially at national and subsequently at company level. The strategy to achieve implementation of the claim in the face of anticipated resistance by the ITV companies, is the assignment of directors' secondary rights to the DPRS, which will remove individual directors from the firing line in resisting employer pressure. Major meetings have been held to explain the claim and the strategy at which our members have clearly endorsed the proposals. The strategy was endorsed by the National Executive Committee in December 1998.

51 The campaigning organisations will be organising a major 'sign up' campaign for freelance directors to underpin the strategy which will include directors' meetings in the English regions and in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

52 Director members will be circulated before the 1999 conference with full details of the action necessary to assign secondary rights to the DPRS. Director members of BECTU have already become associate members of the DPRS without any initial fee and details of this new benefit was circulated to all freelance director members in December. Close liaison has been established with directors' agents through the Personal Managers' Association, whose support will be very valuable in achieving implementation of the assignment strategy. If required, a further verbal report will be made to Conference.

Copyright

53 BECTU was instrumental some 18 months ago in the establishment of an organisation called the Alliance for the Protection of Copyright. Other organisations belonging to the Alliance for the Protection of Copyright are the Writers' Guild of Great Britain, PACT, the NUJ, the Society of Authors, Women in Film and Television, the Musicians' Union, Radio and the Scottish Independent Radio Producers' Association (SIRPA).

54 The purpose of the Alliance was to seek to reach an agreement with the BBC, ITV companies, Channel 4, Channel 5 and PACT on a Code of Practice that helped to deal with the problem of copyright theft. The National Executive Committee is pleased to report that agreement between the Alliance for the Protection of Copyright and the broadcasting organisations was reached in April 1999. The Code of Practice was issued as Branch Circular 544/1999 and is attached to this agenda as Appendix D.

Affiliations

55 BECTU remained affiliated to the following organisations in 1998/99:

General Fund

Federation of Entertainment Unions £2,500
Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Republic) IR£51
Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Northern Ireland) £606
Scottish TUC £1,591
Trades Union Congress £47,959

Political Fund

Action for Southern Africa £125
Amnesty International £127
Arts for Labour £150
British Copyright Council £720
British Film Institute £176
British Screen Advisory Council £3,700
British Standards Institution £176
Campaign for Freedom of Information £150
Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom £225
City Centre £150
Cuba Solidarity Campaign £75
Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit £50
Institute of Employment Rights £150
International Centre for Trade Union Rights £100
Labour Party £24,000
Southern and Eastern Regional TUC £250
Scottish Labour Party £250
Labour Research Department £637
Mechanics Institute (Labour History Museum) £50
Media Entertainment International £30,493
Metier £100
National Abortion Campaign £100
National Assembly Against Racism £50
National Campaign for the Arts £235
Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign £200
Skillset £1,175
Theatres Advisory Council £420
Theatre Technical Training Services £400
Trade Union CND £150

56 The National Executive Committee has agreed to affiliate to Searchlight, the National Abortion Campaign and the Wales Labour Party during 1998/99.

Life, honorary and deceased members

57 The National Executive Committee has, during the course of the last year, awarded life membership to the following: Andrew Andreas, Bert Batt, John Brewser, George Brown, Barry Cockcroft, Bryan Forbes, Colin Godman, Geoffrey Helman, Dick Horn, Brian Mitchison, Ricky Neal, Brian Spencer, and Roy Williams. In view of the changes proposed to the relevant rules, the NEC decided, at its meeting on the 18 April 1999, to defer consideration of nominations for honorary membership until after the 1999 rules revision and annual conferences.

58 The union's journal has recorded that the following members and/or employees of BECTU, or its founder unions, have during the course of the last year passed away: Gus Agosti, Gerry Anstiss, Roderick Bowerbank, Nick Bracher, Elvena Daley, Philip Donnellan, Bessie Edminston, Tom Edwards, Frank Ernst, Les Gerrard, Douglas Gordon, Raymond Hale, Denis Hall, Ron Hocking, Ron Huzzard, Ronald Lenoir, Ellen Lever, Tommy Lever, Eric Lomas, Vere Lorrimer, Peter Mills, Bill Oxley, Bob Rose, Michael Samuelson, Graham Shipham, Buddy Simms, Doreen Taylor, Mike Wagen, Eve Willson, Vincent Winter, Freddy Young.