Posted by Sharon Elliott on 18 November 2014
Most of us arrive at work on a Monday morning with pre-conceived plans for the day, ready to tackle tasks held over from the previous week or to get new challenges underway. That said, in my work for BECTU I'm used to having to re-write the daily to-do list due to unforseen events. Yesterday was a case in point.
Flying the flag for hair and make-professionals and defending the rights of students not to be exposed to exploitation.
I'd picked up on some twitter discussion over the weekend from make-up artists concerned at apparent attempts by a make-up agency/make-up supply company to recruit 100 make-up artists, both qualified and still studying, to work on Miss World 2014 which is happening in London next month.
The sense of outrage from qualified make-up artists wanting to make a living was palpable. Our own Hair & Make-up branch posted messages of support underlining the union's clear, and often stated position, that work should be paid and furthermore that students shouldn't be encouraged to work for free. These points are acutely relevant when the companies hiring are commercial entities. We backed up our reps' statements with tweets from our official account @bectu
On arrival in the office yesterday, however, it was clear that the party responsible for the invitation felt that BECTU's support on social media for paid work was unreasonable. Really, you ask? Afraid so. BECTU was accused of possible defamation and of unprofessional behaviour! Efforts to extract more details on our alleged errors came to little.
'The offer'
The invitation to the make-up artist community - from Colin Laphan of Art Deco/ADCreativ - subject line Miss World 2014 ADCreativ Official Creative Team - went like this:
"I am just writing to you as we have a big project coming up for Miss World 2014 which is being held in London. It culminates in a live broadcast on the weekend of 13th December to 2.2billion viewers worldwide.
"There are 130 contestants all with equal billing! They all need star quality hair and make-up with quick changes through the programme. There are also some build up events that require cover but in much smaller numbers. Everything is being filmed or photographed.
"Can you please let me know if this is something you would be interested in? Please email me :-)
"Everything is credits only. We ar [sic] not receiving any fees for this. We are organising this for the credits. There will be goody bags."
Pay for work is UK law
From BECTU's point of view, a view clearly shared by many hair/make-up artists, this invitation communicates an intention to break the law on the National Minimum Wage. In the UK, the law provides for all work to be paid, at least in line with the minimum rates. Not surprisingly, goody bags and credits don't count as pay.
This legal provision applies as much to students as to those who are not students. Work experience, as an accepted part of a course of study can be done unpaid within limitations, however, it's plain that the invitation to work on the Miss World contest is just that, work.
A further crucial point to be made here, is that the national minimum wage is not the going rate for a qualified hair/make-up artist! In film and TV these skills command in the region of £200-£300 a day depending on seniority, genre and the scale of the production.Work in Commercials can pay more.
Disservice to students
Sadly the colleges and/or tutors happy to push out this invitation without ensuring that their students are properly remunerated are doing their students a disservice. It's a given that students are studying so that they can earn a living, right? Today's students are tomorrow's workforce and they deserve far more support than they are getting in this instance to support their future earning potential. The kind of short-term thinking evident here is unforgiveable. Furthermore, there are no ethics in a proposal which intends that the people down to do the lion's share of the work, in an area which is integral to the competition, should receive no pay.
BECTU will be reporting the issues to the HMRC, whose Pay and Work Rights Unit monitors the conduct of employers who act illegally in respect of the National Minimum Wage. We'll also be seeking the views of Creative Skillset, the training body for the creative sectors, covering film, TV production, fashion and more. Creative Skillset liaises with universities and colleges on their approach to student work experience.
For now, we congratulate the make-up artists prepared to make a stand against exploitation and we invite many more in the creative sectors to stand with them.
Sharon Elliott, Communications Officer
ENDS
Comments
- a beauty salon owner 18 November 2014
- Fantastic. based on 261 working days a year that's a £78,300 a year annual salary.
Where do I sign up, every beauty therapist in the country should join BECTU straight away, they are amazing.
How many beauty salons, the real employers in this industry can afford this? crazy, unrealistic. - Lucy 18 November 2014
- Freelance rates are totally different than self employment and employment rates of pay for many many many reasons all of which you can find because google is free.
- Nichola Graham 18 November 2014
- Beauty Therapy / Salon work is a world apart from Makeup Artistry, hence the difference in rates.
Well done BECTU on highlighting this huge issue. - a freelance makeup artist 18 November 2014
- Those rates are realistic, I earn that and more, as I'm sure most of my fellow makeup artists do.
and well said Lucy.
And well done Bectu, thanks for the support. - a beauty salon owner 18 November 2014
- err, makeup artists in salons are every bit as good as any other makeup artists.
Obviously you are inferring that just because we work in a salon we can't be as good as someone who isn't.
I know some terrible freelances, some of the websites with their work leaves me in fits.
I am so glad google is free, thanks for being patronising, I supposed that happens when you are freelance...
There now more makeup artists employed in beauty salons than "freelance." Lol, my 16yr old daughter can call herself a freelance and work from the bedroom. No standards though. poor hygiene, lack of commercial quality.
Funny how many of these amazing freelances won't get taken on by an agency though.. - a beauty salon owner 18 November 2014
So the freelancers are always getting together for "test" shots, which is unpaid work?
How is BECTU going to police all these "test" shots?- A freelancer 18 November 2014
- You don't sound very happy with your career choice, quite bitter in fact.
No on said one was better than the other, they are just different.
Freelancers get a higher day rate because they usually don't work every day. - Doodles 18 November 2014
- Thank you to BECTU for representing artists working in the Media Industry... It's a hard slog to get where we are, and class ourselves as true freelancers.
Im proud of where I am and hope this now over-saturated industry gets some kind of regulations in place to determine the professionals from the hobbyists! - A freelancer 18 November 2014
- I'm struggling to understand why you are so anti BECTU, what they have done here is a good thing. How can you be so annoyed that they are fighting for what is right.?
Test are a way of updating your book, it's a good way to show your skills to prospective clients. No one gets paid for this, no one is being exploited.
I'm a bit baffled at your anger to be honest.
Unless their words affect you, and you are not a salon owner but maybe someone quite close to what's going on, that's the only reason I can imagine you would be so aggressive from the off! - Karen 18 November 2014
- Am currently a freelance make-up and hair artist but used to work in a salon as a beauty therapist, there are reasons for the difference in pay. A salon is a steady job, as a freelancer there is definitely no guarantee of having 261 days of work, the higher rate makes up for when things go quiet, plus the day can be twice as long as salon hours and no holiday pay (technically there is supposed but in reality there isn't). We have to provide our own extensive kit, often including sfx, electric shavers, beard trimmers etc worth thousands of pounds, salons often carry a line like bare minerals so not much kit is needed. SFX and period work needs extra training which can also cost thousands, then you need to factor in insurance, NI payments, putting aside money for the tax bill, time spent invoicing, chasing up payments, all the time used on phone calls and emails organising work and the sometimes extremely unsociable hours. There is a lot more too it then people realise.
- Passionate 18 November 2014
- Do we really need to explain why freelance rates are higher than that in employment? Is it not obvious? In employment insurance, products, equipment, training, a location etc etc etc are all sorted and provided as a freelancer you pay everything yourself so need to be paid accordingly! Not to then mention the miles of travel etc! Completely differbt and therefore it's a completely irrelevant comparison to make! Well don't BECTU for this and I honestly cannot fathom why anyone would feel that exploitation especially by a muliti billion pound company is acceptable
- Doodles 18 November 2014
- I'll be honest, I'm not scared one bit that a salon artist will take my work and clients, for many reasons. Very strange that a professional is being negative about this situation.... Which makes me think they've never had the experience of being a media freelance artist. Nothing bad about that, just a very different way of working than as a salon artist.
- a lecturers view 18 November 2014
- I appreciate you have to try and make political capital out of this because of the desperate need for new subscriptions.
However the government and the law see things rather differently:
https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage-work-experience-and-internships
My graduates either heading for a career in salons, editorial, weddings or film/tv are equally as good as any of the "freelance" persons who are worried about future competition.
Scaremongering is a snide way of gaining new members and not befitting of a public service.
It also shows you have no idea of the education requirements of our courses. - Passionate 19 November 2014
- Why would someone who has nothing to do with production and indeed BECTU be negatively commenting all over this hmmmmm I bet a billion pounds I can guess who and it's not difficult to work out! Salon is a world away, I know I've seen many from a salon absolutely fall apart on a film set but you carry on darling! As for BECTU trying to get up subscription or whatever such nonsense the other commentator has made, if you had one iota of a clue as to what you were talking about rather than some narcissistic ego that you know everything you wouldn't make such stupid comments and sound like a cretin! Stop being bitter because you have zero clue, never made it as a freelancer or as I suspect have something to do with whome this article is written about! About as transparent as clingfilm my love!
- Passionate 19 November 2014
- Can I just say also that as a very experienced lecturer who has travelled the world and billed at tip events I would NEVER allow a single student if mine to be exploited and if I did it's because 1. I have zero clue of the industry or morals 2. I'm a very poor guide and 3. I probably am being bought and paid whilst my students aren't! The uni as one of the leading who I work for as good employers and industry specialist would also fire me for disrespecting and using my students
- Passionate 19 November 2014
- Please also do go and tell the top SFX Artist many of whom I have also had the honour of working with that your little beauty course that covered BASIC SFX therefore means you know how to mould make, cast, sculpt, apply, hair punch, colour and blend all SFX and that the job is the same as waxing someone's balls in a salon won't you! I'm
Sure you'd be laughed out the door for being a complete tool! You clearly have absolutely no idea of what you're talking about and you're embarrassing yourself - horrified freelancer 19 November 2014
- 'a lecturers view' you are very anti BECTU for someone who is supposed to be teaching students the correct ways of the makeup industry. Clearly happy to use and abuse the youth of today.
- Light Monkey 21 November 2014
- At no point in this discussion has anyone implied that salon and freelance MUA are of differing quality, yet 2 posters claiming to be relevant to the industry have chosen to read between the lines and assume that is being inferred, even when others have taken the time to explain why there is such disparity in rates for the two. I can only come to the conclusion that you are employing distraction techniques to detract from the crux of the discussion at hand.
I find it odd that 2 posters claiming to have some relevance to the industry are so against workers in their own industry getting a fair rate and indeed joining a union that serves to protect them from exploitation.
I'd wager that if Bectu took the time to examine the ISP of these comments it'd through up some interesting data. - Sound Person 22 November 2014
- I'm not gonna bother talking about the skills of MUA Working for salons or for the entertainment industry because it's not the point.
Miss World is a huge event, with loads of broadcasting rights and a lot of money are being invested and distributed around. It sounds absurd that professionals, salon workers, students, cleaners, security stuff, runners (the list is endless), are not paid for their work.
We should be able to distinguish between learning opportunities and exploitation. - Basharat Ali 18 December 2014
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