Working Time BBC agreement

Agreement on the application of the Working Time Directive in three BBC Directorates has been finalised.

This follows more than four out of five union members in News, Broadcast and Production Directorates voting to accept proposals which include a 48-hour maximum working week.

The joint unions' final agreement came several weeks after 86.6% of BECTU, NUJ, and AEEU members supported the new scheduling package in a ballot which closed last month.

Unions delayed publishing the ballot result until the BBC had agreed to refine the wording of more than 50 pages of documentation which list the new agreement.

Included in the final paperwork are a new, Corporation-wide, statement on conditions of service covering all staff, and separate detailed guidelines on scheduling for each Directorate.

Staff in Resources Directorate are not covered by the agreement, and talks on application of the Directive across Resources were due to continue with a meeting on May 7.

Under the terms of the agreement in News, Broadcast, and Production, staff in the three Directorates cannot be expected to work more than 48 hours a week, averaged over 52 weeks, unless they have been asked to sign a voluntary opt-out form. Management have stated in writing that these opt-outs will be sought "only on a limited basis", and have accepted that, legally, no individual can suffer "detriment or discrimination" if they refuse to sign.

The agreement also incorporates the legally-stipulated breaks between duty which are contained in the Working Time Directive - an 11 hour break between turns of duty, a 20 minute break every six hours, and at least one day off in seven, or two days off per fortnight.

Night shifts are limited to an average of 8 hours per turn, however this limit will apply only if staff regularly work at least three hours between 2300 and 0600 on more than half the days they are scheduled to work.

In certain circumstances, where "continuity of service" is required, managers can require staff to infringe these legal breaks, provided they are subsequently given "compensatory rest" - time off equal to the length of the infringement.

The rules governing compensatory rest proved to be the most controversial part of the negotiations over Working Time, and the unions fought hard for a final agreement which clearly states that "compensatory rest must be time off from duty". Originally, the management had argued that routine scheduled time off could be designated as "compensatory rest" in exchange for infringed breaks.

The new agreement has already taken effect in the three directorates it covers, and some staff may find that they are owed compensatory rest for the period from October 1 1998, when the Directive became law.

Since then the BBC has been recording working hours, and as far as possible scheduling staff, in accordance with the Directive, even though no agreement was in place with the unions.

Compensatory rest is the one remaining issue which has prevented an agreement between the unions and Resources management.