Pay ballot continues in BBC
A ballot of BECTU members on the BBC pay offer is still running despite an NUJ holdup.
The journalists' union has delayed its ballot, after a meeting of Chapel representatives expressed worries about the future of Unpredictability Allowances (UPA).
Read BECTU's letter to members
Download BECTU's briefing
Under the two-year deal which was tabled by the BBC on May 3, the unions are expected to participate in talks where the management hope to "review and redefine" the criteria and eligibility for UPAs.
Since 1991, staff have been rewarded for unpredictable work schedules through a system which adds £4,032 or 20% to the salaries of staff who receive 7 days notice of schedules, and pays £2,016 or 10% to those who are told which days they are due to work more than two weeks in advance.
Conditions of service determine whether individuals receive the flat rate or a percentage, and more than 9,000 staff in the BBC receive a UPA of some sort.
Concern that the talks could result in UPAs being withdrawn led NUJ chapel representatives to call for the pay offer to be rejected completely - a move that undermined union negotiators who had agreed with the BBC that the offer would be presented "neutrally" to members, without any recommendation on how to vote.
BECTU's Annual Conference of BBC Branch Representatives on May 20 endorsed the decision of their negotiators to go ahead with a neutral ballot on the terms agreed with management on May 3.
Members of the BECTU negotiating team told delegates that there had been no acceptance by the union that UPAs would be abolished - management had acknowledged that unpredictability still needed to be rewarded - and the only pre-conditions on the talks worked in favour of staff. Management were promising that any change in the system would be underpinned by "cushioning" payments, which could range from consolidation of the allowances in to basic pay to individuals opting out of unpredictable scheduling where possible.
Officials involved in the pay talks argued that collective discussions about UPA covering thousands of staff might be better than a campaign by individual managers to pick off areas one-by-one, reassessing whether the allowances should be paid.
Delegates were also urged to consider the possible outcome of separate talks on "rate-for-the-job", which would also be kicked off if the offer were accepted. In the pay package, the BBC is promising to negotiate a new pay and grading structure in which "individuals would know the expected salary level for someone who is fully competent and the time it would take to reach this level".
Although the final result of these talks could not be predicted, BECTU's negotiators believed that the two-year pay offer represented the union's best chance yet of tackling the unfairnesses which had resulted from the BBC's free-for-all performance pay system.
Other benefits of the pay offer highlighted at the BECTU conference were the introduction of a £11,500 minimum salary across the BBC, and enhanced London Weighting payments for staff earning less than £22,000 a year.
Although BECTU's ballot of members has begun, members of the union's BBC Divisional Committee are due to meet NUJ chapel representatives to discuss their worries about UPAs, and help to clarify the agreement about ballotting of members that was struck on May 3.
BECTU's ballot closes on June 10.
Letter sent to BECTU members with pay ballot papers.
13 May 2002
Dear Colleague,
BBC PAY OFFER 2002
I am writing to set out the pay offer from the BBC for 2002. There is a considerable amount of detail in what is a complex offer, and I would ask you to read this carefully before making up your mind. This letter also contains a ballot paper for you to complete and a reply paid envelope in which to return the ballot paper to me. The offer only applies to staff employed by the BBC and Broadcast Ltd. It does not apply to Worldwide or Resources Limited nor to Technology Ltd. I will be writing to members in Technology separately. According to our records you are employed by the BBC or Broadcast Ltd. If that is not the case please can you email [email protected] and let us know.
The Offer
Unusually for the BBC, this is a two year pay deal, which means that if accepted the pay rise for this year (2002) would be 2.8% and next year (2003) would be RPI + 0.5%. However there are other elements to the offer and the BBC are presenting it as a package and if we try to "cherry pick" then the whole deal would be taken off the table. In addition the pay rise for 2003 depends upon reaching agreement on the rate for the job and the application of Unpredictability Payments. If there is no agreement then the offer in 2003 would be for the rate of inflation only.
The increase in basic pay of 1.8% with a further 1% consolidated performance bonus for all staff is directly linked to PRP and the boycott of appraisals. The BBC wants to have talks on pay, grading and reward over the next year and has given an explicit undertaking that appraisal will not be connected to any future reward scheme, but in return they want the unions to call off the appraisal boycott. If it is not called off then the whole deal would be withdrawn.
The general increase this year is 2.8% in total at a time when inflation is 1.3% and the BBC's licence fee income has gone up by 3.2%. The BBC said that they would have 0.2% set aside for growth in the job payments, bonuses and PRP this year. For year two the BBC are offering inflation plus 0.5%. The inflation figure used would be the RPI for April 2003. The figure for the second year also depends on reaching agreement on two areas. These are the rate for the job and Unpredictability Allowances. If agreement is not reached on both of these then the increase for next year would fall to inflation only. The combined increase of 2.8% applies to all salary related payments, including night rates, UPA, Christmas Day and Boxing Day payments, and the floors and roofs of the pay bands.
Low Pay
As part of our claim the unions had addressed low pay by seeking a minimum salary of £11,000 pa (excluding London Weighting) across the BBC. Exceptionally, the BBC have responded by offering £11,500 pa, which would effectively remove Band One from the salary scales, and staff on those scales would have the 2.8% increase applied and then be moved across to a minimum of £11,500. They have also put additional money into London Weighting for staff earning less than £22,000 pa, which takes it from £2,833 to £3,250. Staff earning over £22,000 pa would see London Weighting rise to £2,912. This response goes a long way to resolving the issue of low pay and is welcomed by the trade unions.
Rate For The Job
In order to address our claim for the rate for the job the BBC have accepted that something needs to be done and has proposed talks over the next twelve months on a new Pay and Grading structure. Since 1995 BECTU has been arguing that staff could not find out the expected salary level for someone fully competent in the job (the rate for the job). Nor could they tell whether they should be competent after 3, 4 or 5 years. This had led to big differences in salaries. In 1998 the unions reached an agreement at ACAS that after three years you should be on 110% of the floor of the grade (not your starting salary) and after six years 115% of the floor. This did improve matters, but still left great uncertainty. As part of this year's offer the BBC have agreed with the principle that there needs to be a fair and transparent structure in which you can find out what the rate is for your job and how many years it will take you to get there. They also want to talk about a new pay and grading structure across the BBC to be introduced on August 1st 2003.
Unpredictability Allowances
The second area which the BBC wish to talk about is Unpredictability Allowances (UPAs). They want to review the existing definitions and how they are applied. They have accepted that the unions can discuss working at unsocial hours, including night hours. However they have excluded the possibility of any increase in night rates. They would like to introduce the agreed system for new starters from 1st January 2003 and for current staff from 1st August 2003. After pressure from the unions they have agreed to make proposals on cushioning the loss of earnings, if any, and the options could include freezing the allowance at its cash value, or allowing some individuals to opt out of unpredictable working, or even (subject to the impact on the Pension Scheme) consolidation of the allowance into the salary. As further protection for our members who may be affected, we proposed, and the BBC agreed, that if a two year deal is accepted but no progress is made on the talks about UPA then the BBC will make no change to UPA until 1st August 2004. This is important because it means that if the talks fail then people receiving UPA will be protected until then. It will also stop the BBC from trying to pick off people one by one or in small groups and force them to give up UPA payments.
Redeployment
The existing guarantee of five months redeployment for anyone selected for redundancy will remain in place until 31st December 2002 pending the introduction of new legislation.
Which Way to Vote
The deal as outlined above has significant benefits for BECTU members, not least an increase of more than twice the rate of inflation in the first year and a big boost for the lower paid. The 0.5% increase in year two is not as impressive but it is guaranteed to be ahead of inflation whilst being dependent upon reaching agreement in separate talks. However, while we welcome the talks on the rate for the job, the process of agreeing the level of salary for a competent member of staff will require us to demonstrate what is being paid to say, producers or researchers across a department or a petal. The talks on UPAs will also be difficult in so far as the BBC has indicated that in their view UPA should only be paid to those who actually work unpredictably. Our view is that unsocial hours are at least as important as unpredictable schedules and we will pursue that point in the talks.
Because there are pros and cons BECTU is not making any recommendation about which way you should vote. However, we are clear that the deal is the best that can be achieved through negotiation, which means that if it is rejected we will be asking you to vote "YES" in a ballot for industrial action to try and improve the offer.
YOUR VIEWS ARE IMPORTANT PLEASE VOTE
Please return the enclosed ballot form to BECTU Head Office, 111 Wardour Street, London W1F 0AY in the reply paid envelope provided, no later than 12 NOON ON MONDAY 10TH JUNE 2002.
Yours sincerely,
LUKE CRAWLEY
Supervisory Official