Tackling the elements

Battling the wind and rain last Saturday, national official, Anna Murray, and I did the first shift carrying BECTU's banner as part of the Put People First! march ahead of the G20 on 2 April.

 Banner on parade. Pic: Stefano Cagnoni

Whilst the elements decide how easy a task that is, carrying the BECTU banner is always a important moment and never more so last Saturday as the 'broad church' assembled by the TUC underlined the interests of ordinary people in jobs, peace and climate change at this critical time in world affairs.

The march was a success with more than 35,000 people attending according to Met police figures. Thank you to those who turned up for 'team BECTU'.

Our members have a huge stake in the Put People First! agenda. On the jobs front alone, whether our members are working in film, independent production, theatre or broadcasting, the squeeze is being felt.

Despite this, we strive to ensure that our members get the best possible support and furthermore that progress already made is not eroded by the downturn.

Late night talks last Wednesday averted a further strike by members in the South Asia section of the World Service. Efforts to avoid compulsory redundancies at BBC Scotland are continuing.

The interests of our members at ITV, whose difficulties stem more from bad management than from the economic downturn, are being well represented in redundancy consultations in Leeds, Manchester and on the Southbank. The company put 600 jobs at risk last month. BECTU is directing more resources to help members with resettlement. We are also pressing ITV to go further than they have previously to assist staff who either want to go freelance, or who decide to change their career path.

The fallout from Ofcom's PSB Review still remains unclear and to a certain extent the Review has been overshadowed by Lord Stephen Carter's review, Digital Britain. BECTU's submission to Digital Britain reiterates, understandably, elements of our submission to Ofcom. However our arguments are no less well informed for that.

Discussion about the direction, support and the legislative framework governing the industries we look after, went to the House of Lords recently. The union's assistant general secretaries, Martin Spence and Luke Crawley, provided direct evidence to the Committee on the economic and cultural value derived from UK film and broadcasting, both sectors which need more support and not less.

All political parties, of course, have an interest in media affairs and BECTU has met with representatives from all of the three main parties over the years.

Most recently, we were pleased to hear directly from Jeremy Hunt MP, the Conservative Party's shadow culture secretary. Mr Hunt told myself, BECTU's president, Tony Lennon, and our research officer, Andy Egan, that the Conservatives are opposed to top-slicing of the BBC licence fee. Our meeting also touched on the importance of plurality in the media; the prospects for local TV, post-recession; the spectrum debate, the need to sustain arts funding and the benefits to the UK of tax breaks for the film industry ... not forgetting of course, the legacy of 2012.

We have been invited to feed into some further exploratory work which Mr Hunt and his team have planned for the summer.

Gerry Morrissey, general secretary.