National Theatre victory

National Theatre members are celebrating a victory at ACAS which has resulted in an extra 0.5% over and above an imposed pay rise.

Pay negotiations broke down at the end of last year resulting in National Theatre management imposing a 3% pay increase on all BECTU staff grades. However, the union was fully aware that the management had awarded themselves a 3.5% increase the previous April.

After BECTU members threatened to embark on a campaign of industrial action, it was agreed to attempt to settle the dispute through binding arbitration at ACAS.

BECTU's submission to the ACAS Arbitrator claimed that the National Theatre had deliberately manipulated negotiations in order to leave union members worse off than non-members. The Arbitrator found in BECTU's favour.

The consequence of the decision was not only to match the staff pay with that of management, but also it was backdated to April 1998.