BBC members ballot on Working Time

A delayed ballot over Working Time proposals is finally going ahead at the BBC, but one major area is excluded.

The ballot on the European Working Time Directive, covering most parts of the BBC, is going ahead a week later than planned, and BECTU, the NUJ and AEEU were due to mail out ballot forms on February 22.

However, the ballot will not cover all of the BBC as originally planned - members in the Resources Directorate will be excluded after their management tabled final proposals for new scheduling practices which, according to BECTU, fell short of the promises they had made earlier in negotiations.

In News, Production, and Broadcast Directorates the unions had no problem agreeing the final wording of proposals which include a maximum 48 hour working week, averaged over 52 weeks, and the introduction of compensatory rest for infringements of daily and weekly breaks.

The legal rest breaks of 11 hours between turns of duty, and at least one day off per week, can be infringed when there is a need for continuity of production, and the BBC's proposals accept that time off given to staff who work into their breaks must be genuine time off duty.

Full proposals from management

No final proposals were agreed for Resources Directorate, after a disagreement between BECTU and the management over the interpretation of compensatory rest.

According to union negotiators, the management had, at one point during the negotiations, suggested that time given to compensate for infringements of daily rest breaks should be treated as normal compensatory leave, but without any provision for conversion into payments. However, when the final written proposal from Resources was put to the unions, only days before the ballot was due to start, it became clear that compensatory rest would be scheduled by management, instead of being taken like normal leave at times chosen by the individual.

Text of BBC Resources proposal on compensatory rest

The union is hoping to get back round the table with Resources management while the ballot runs in other BBC areas - negotiators hope that an acceptable formula can still be hammered out. If no agreement can be reached with Resources, BECTU will be forced to issue an instruction to all members in the area that they should stick rigidly to the limits laid down by the Directive, and the union will also insist that the average working week should be calculated over 17 weeks, instead of 52, which will put pressure on management by making it more difficult to deal with peaks and troughs in the workload.

Along with forms for the ballot, which closes on March 15, the unions have sent members an explanatory letter in which the proposals for News, Production, and Broadcast Directorates are described as the best that can be achieved through negotiations.

Letter to members

BECTU members in these Directorates who have not received a ballot form by March 2 are advised to contact the union directly on 0171 437 8506.

21 February 1999