Ballot in Royal Shakespeare Company

Union members at the RSC Barbican site are voting on industrial action over time off.

The ballot comes after discussions on scheduling of compensatory rest broke down at ACAS on December 5.

BECTU had declared a dispute over the company's interpretation of an agreement dating from 1998 which covers time off owed to staff who infringe the European rules on 11 hour breaks between duties, and taking at least one day off in seven.

Under the agreement, management were given the right to break the rules in some circumstances, provided staff were given compensatory rest at a later date.

However, although the union expected the rest to be "meaningful time off", the RSC began scheduling it in quiet periods that would normally have been off-duty periods anyway.

RSC staff who had built up significant amounts of compensatory rest found that they had no control over its timing, and the union made no progress in local discussions with management.

Formal notice has now been given to the company about the industrial action ballot, which starts on December 20, and is scheduled to close on January 8 2001.