PACT/BECTU draft agreement: nothing more important than unity

Posted on behalf of Tom Bell, supervisory official, London Production Division:

Today (12 October 2014) BECTU held the biggest and most representative meeting of feature film freelance reps for many decades. The subject was the Draft BECTU/PACT Freelance Agreement, which has been out for consultation among both PACT and BECTU’s members for some months.

About 45 elected Reps plus seven full time Union officials attended the meeting in the Ibis Hotel, London. PACT representatives Steve Clarke-Hall and John McVay attended for the first hour (plus a few minutes “Grace time”) ...to present PACT’s view of the draft. They answered some robust questions before leaving. 

The discussion then proceeded at a swift pace for another two and a half hours with some fierce criticisms of the “minimum rates” pay scales that the Draft Agreement is based on. It was a genuine exchange, with viewpoints shifting as a consensus gradually emerged.

I won’t go into the decisions of the meeting here – BECTU must contact PACT about that first - so continue to watch this space. I loved seeing so many departments gathered under the BECTU banner to discuss common issues. This consultation has revitalised some non-functioning branches of the Union and added new impetus to those that were already active.

Eleven key departments were represented today, as reflected through BECTU’s London Production Division branches. And reps from a number of BECTU’s Regional Production Division branches attended from the key centres beyond London.

I was able to report that BECTU membership is growing within the freelance film and television community. We must build on this meeting – sometimes we have been divided with a lack of solidarity between departments, but this is beginning to change. Nothing is more important than our unity, and this meeting has given us a base from which our unity can be built.

ENDS

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