SOLT offers 5% pay deal

SOLT has offered a 5% increase on all minimum rates of pay covering London's West End Theatres.

SOLT, the Society of London Theatres, has also offered a 1.5% increase in employers' matched pension contributions.

The new pay deal, contained within the BECTU/SOLT Agreement, has been put to members in a ballot with no recommendation to either accept or reject the offer but BECTU's negotiating committee asks members to judge it on its merits.

The offer is higher than the current rate of inflation (4.1%) and compares favourably with other settlements in the theatre industry.

If accepted, both the pay increase and the pension increase (from 1% to 2.5%) will take effect from 1 October 2007.

While the union negotiating committee had a number of concerns about last year's settlement it has decided to focus on the future of the agreement.

BECTU, along with SOLT, remains committed to transforming the collective agreement into a 'skills-based' agreement by October 2008. This is based on recommendations from the Green Report back in May, which proposed that a new pay and grading structure should be implemented, based on skill levels yet to be agreed.

BECTU hopes this process will not only modernise the agreement but bring real and significant benefits to BECTU members and, in particular, address the chronic problem of low pay for West End theatre workers.

To help with this process, members are asked to encourage any non-members in their theatre to join BECTU.

Supervisory Official Willy Donaghy commented: "Once again, non-members are benefitting from the efforts of the negotiating committee so members should emphasise that it is about time their colleagues contributed."

Ballot papers have been issued. These should be returned to BECTU Head Office no later than midday on Friday 26 October 2007. The deadline may be affected by postal strikes so check this site for updates.