Second Resources pay meeting

Further details of possible changes to the BBC Resources pay system have been discussed.

The meeting, held on 27 March 2002, followed on from the previous meeting with Resources management.

Management said that the intention of the proposals was not to drive costs down - it was planned to be cost neutral. They said the proposals are being tabled to 'change behaviour' and to 'disconnect pay from time'.

New starters

It was proposed there would be 'some form of buy out' for days, night working and acting. This would be against a background of retaining current scheduling practices, although some aspects may need to be reviewed against the final shape of any proposals, and retaining the principles of current conditions - eg Protected Days. They also said there were 'no plans' to move away from the Towers Perrin grading system.

They said at this stage they wished to look at the pay system in relation to new starters, moving to how current staff would transition to the system later in the discussions.

The union-side said it would be more productive at this point to concentrate on the 'big picture' rather than going into detail. Concern was expressed the package was planned to be cost neutral, and that experience with days-based systems elsewhere had been somewhat variable.

The union team emphasised that any changes to the current system must be subject to full collective bargaining arrangements.

It was also pointed out that one of the roles of penalty payments was to discipline certain aspects of the system - eg staff scheduling. Whilst management said they understood the point, they did not believe the protection was as strong as it used to be, partly because of changes in the costing system over the past few years.

Management were asked how the proposals could impact on the staff/freelance budget ratio. They said the budget was higher in Studios and OBs than in Post Production, and that variations in workload can be reflected in variations of freelance budget. They did not anticipate large changes in the ratio because of the proposals.

Calculations

Management said at the moment they wished to concentrate on proposals in the context of Studios and OBs UPA2 staff where work patterns differed from other areas such as Post Production. They said the Post Production there was a greater variation of hours worked, and that proposals may be 'slightly different' for this area.

They said they had looked at the current number of days worked in Studios and OBs by UPA2 staff annually. They outlined a simple calculation for these areas based on the assumption of an average 10 hours a day. They subtracted 7 weeks made up of Annual Leave and PHL (Public Holiday Leave) - made up of 25 days Annual Leave and 9 days PHL. This leaves 45 weeks; assuming a 40 hour week this equates to 1800 hours annually. Assuming an average day length of 10 hours this is equivalent to 180 days a year.

Management had made an assumption that the maximum time that could be worked under the Working Time Regulations was 48 hours a week over 48 weeks a year - which equals to 2304 hours a year. Assuming average 10 hour days this is approximately 230 days a year. This interpretation of the Working Time Regulations is not shared by BECTU.

They said in Studios and OBs UPA2 staff 'tended' to work 195 days a year, and that 210 days would, in their view, be 'comfortably under' the Working Time Regulation maximum.

They then outlined more details of proposals following on from the previous meeting. They said these proposals were based on the above calculations and where for staff at the fully competent salary level.

Level	Days	Additional days	ANCS	Salary
'Bronze'	180	£a 181-195 £b >195	----	£S
'Silver'	195	£b >195	£a x 15	£S+(£a x 15)
'Gold'	210	£b >210	£b x 15	£S+(£a x 15)+(£b x 15)

In connection with the above proposal management said:

Level - the three levels referred to at the previous meeting.
- As an example, based on current statistics, management saw 80% of staff at the 'silver' level with 10% at 'bronze' and 10% at 'gold' for Cameras and Sound categories in Studios and OBs.
- However the proportion of 'bronze', 'silver' and 'gold' arrangements will be dependent on the work load anticipated within each area and is expected to vary category by category.
Days - the total number of days to be worked over a 12 month period.
- These figures exclude annual leave and PHL (Public Holiday Leave).
- These figures include training, sickness and other authorised absence (eg Long Service Leave).
Additional days - payment for each day worked above the number of days shown at each level:
- 'Bronze' - each additional day above 180 would attract:
  - £a for days 181-195
  - £b for days above 195
- 'Silver' - each additional day above 195 would attract £b
- 'Gold' - each additional day above 210 would attract £b
- Daily rate £b > £a
ANCS (Additional Non Consolidated Salary) - this is the differential in salary between levels, and is not consolidated for pension purposes.
- It equates to the daily rate for the level below multiplied by the days differential.
- For example at 'Silver' level the ANCS is £a x 15 (195-180 days = 15).
Salary - this is the basic salary calculated as shown above and paid on a monthly basis (as currently).
- The ANCS element of the salary is not consolidated for pension purposes.
- Any additional day payments are totalled and paid at the end of the year.

The question was raised if staff carrying out additional days over the number of days applicable to their level would be voluntary under the proposals. Management replied that they would have to look at the what would be seen as reasonable number of additional days that could be scheduled. The union-side responded with concern, since it seemed that one of the principles of the proposals was to effectively to 'buy out' overtime.

Management were asked if timesheets would still be required under the proposals. They said they would still be required to verify that records were correct, for Working Time Regulations purposes and to ensure there was a definitive record at the end of year to confirm additional day payments.

Length of working day

They went on to say that changing the costing system to programmes could develop from the proposals. They said that OBs were moving to a daily rate system, and it could possibly be applied to Studios, although there where currently no plans along these lines.

Concern was expressed by your Representatives that building up a system based on 10 hours days, and trying to separate salaries from the length of day, could lead to the average working day becoming longer, particularly in Studios. Management agreed this 'technically could happen', but that in Studios the limitation was the number of hours available that would still allow turnarounds, and that the cost of the studio was normally much more significant than the cost of staff to productions.

Management said that the length of days would need to be closely monitored under the proposals to stop any upward drift - however they did believe there were 'enough mechanisms to control the length of day'.