BBC Resources vote on pay offer
BECTU members in the BBC's TV facilities subsidiary are being balloted on a 3.5% pay offer from the company.
Although union negotiators have not recommended whether members should accept or reject the offer from BBC Resources Ltd, it has been described as the best that can be achieved through negotiation alone.
Company management confirmed the 3.5% offer at a meeting with the union on March 1. At a previous meeting in January, managers said they could afford to increase pay by the rate of inflation, but no more.
At the time, inflation, indicated by the RPI, was running at 3.5%, but by the March meeting the figure had dropped to 3.2%. Despite this fall, the company agreed to stick with the original, higher, offer as an act of good faith, if it was accepted in a ballot, but reserved the right to revert to 3.2% if members voted for rejection.
Negotiators had offered to recommend the pay rise to members if management were to make further concessions, particularly on the pay and conditions of trainees in the company, however this was turned down.
While emphasising that BBC Resources values its trainees, the company said it could not offer them standard conditions of service, including hourly overtime, during their first two years.
The pay offer does, however, include several provisions aimed specifically at lower-paid staff, including trainees. No one will receive a cash increase of less than £550, bargained up from an original £500 offer, which gives all staff with a basic salary of less than £15,714, a rise higher than 3.5%
Enhanced London Weighting will be increased by 4.35% for staff earning less than £22,000 a year, taking the figure to £3,600, and the company's minimum salary, excluding London Weighting, will go up to £12,601.
In response to a union demand, the company has agreed that the 3.5% rise, if accepted, would be applied to the basic pensionable pay of a growing group of staff on buy-out deals called Special Fixed Salaries (SFSs). Negotiators called for this provision as a "safety net" for SFS staff who about to go through an annual renewal of their buy-out arrangements.
Before starting the members' ballot, which closes on March 21st, union negotiators expressed regret that they had not made further progress on improvements for trainees, but welcomed a management promise to open talks about their terms and conditions in Autumn.
This commitment echoed the willingness of Resources management in the previous year's pay talks to open discussion on three issues raised by the union: the absence of any rate for the job in the company's pay structure; problems with overruns to scheduled working hours; and the training syllabus for trainees.
Working parties on all three of these were established following the 2003 pay talks, and although none has yet reached a conclusion, management indicated at the March 1 meeting that they were willing to continue participating.
BBC Resources' pay anniversary is April 1, and if the increase is accepted the company hopes to be able to put it into pay packets that month, in spite of technical difficulties with the scheduling of the BBC's pay machinery.
Pay bargaining in the company is separate from the overall BBC pay negotiations, which have an anniversary date of August 1.
Text of letter to BBC Resources members accompanying pay ballot papers
Dear colleague,
BECTU has had two meetings with Resources Management to discuss pay for 2005/06. At the end of the second meeting the company tabled its final offer, which was an improvement on the position after the first meeting. This letter sets out the details of the offer and contains a ballot paper for you to vote on it. BECTU is not recommending acceptance or rejection and this letter will explain why we are neutral.
At the first meeting the management tabled the RPI figure for December of 3.5% (currently 3.2%). This would be applied to all pay-related items, but not to SFS daily rates. The company also offered a two year pay-deal but would only commit to the December 2006 RPI figure in the second year. Your negotiators told them the offer was unacceptable and the meeting stood adjourned. We proposed a minimum increase of £750 to help the lower paid and said any increase must apply to those on an SFS contract. We also believe we should not agree to a two year pay deal because of the uncertainty surrounding the future of the company. We met again on 1st March and after some discussion the company tabled an improved final offer of 3.5% with a minimum payment of £550. This means anyone earning less than £15,714.28 would get more that 3.5% and in particular, Trainees in Year One and Year Two would benefit. The company also accepted that the 3.5% increase would apply to the daily rate of those on SFS contracts. They noted that the number of days worked by those on an SFS contract was reducing, which would affect their gross earnings but their pensionable salary would rise by 3.5%.
London Weighting would increase by more than 3.5% with those on less than £22,000 rising from £3,450 to £3,600 (4.35%) and those on £22,000 and above rising from £3,090 to £3,200 (3.56%).
BECTU is not recommending that you vote in favour of this offer, your negotiating team is neutral. We see it as the best that can be achieved through negotiation and believe that you, the membership, need to decide whether to accept or reject it. We believe the offer matches inflation for many of our members, whilst being slightly better for those who are on lower salaries. We are also conscious the next twelve months will be a difficult time with the prospect of the company being sold to an outside buyer and it may be that we will need to use a pay claim for 2006 to address issues surrounding the sale.
We believe that having got to this point through negotiation, if you wish to reject the offer you must be prepared to vote for industrial action and be prepared to take it in order to force the employer to improve it.
Further details are on our website at www.bectu.org.uk. The ballot will close on Monday 21st March at 12 noon. Please use your vote and let us know what you think.
This letter is being sent to BECTU members who are employees of Resources Limited. If you work for another part of the BBC, can you please email [email protected] with your name, staff number and employment details so we can update our records.
Yours,
Luke Crawley
Supervisory Officer
BECTU