National Theatre pay deal agreed

A two-year pay offer from London's National Theatre has been accepted by BECTU members.

The pay deal, based on increases of 3.5% on basic pay in 2004 and 2005, was unanimously approved by union members on October 7.

One concession made to the union was the deletion from BECTU's collective agreement with the NT of a reference to "binding arbitration" as a remedy to disputes that cannot be resolved in-house.

In addition to pay rises over the next two years - the first backdated to April 1 2004, and the next due in April 2005 - management at the National have also agreed to raise their employers' contribution to the staff pension scheme by 0.5% on both pay anniversaries.

Elsewhere in the theatre industry, BECTU has just begun pay talks with the Society of London Theatres (SOLT), which represents commercial theatre employees in the West End.