ITN dispute deepens

Only a last minute meeting at ACAS can now head off industrial action at ITN.

BECTU and the NUJ have declared a formal dispute over plans for new rotas and flexible working at Independent Television News, and as a result a meeting set up by conciliation service ACAS has been fixed for 29 November.

If the company fails to table acceptable improvements to a controversial package of changes in staff terms and conditions, union members are expected to call for an industrial action ballot at a mass meeting planned for the next day, 30 November.

ITN's target date for the introduction of extensive nightworking and increased anti-social hour working is 1 January, and any industrial action is likely to start before the deadline, posing a threat to ITN's coverage of Millennium celebrations.

Members of both unions at ITN rejected the proposed changes out of hand at a meeting late in October, and the formal dispute was declared a fortnight later after the company refused to postpone the target date to allow full discussions on the new rotas.

BECTU and the NUJ have emphasised that the dispute was declared to ensure that members can take industrial action before 1 January, and say that they would have been willing to continue negotiations if management had agreed to a postponement.