Scottish TV agrees peace talks

Plans for job cuts and wage cuts at Scottish Television have been shelved to allow talks with the union.

Management of the Glasgow-based company, part of Scottish Media Group, have agreed to meet BECTU for two days of negotiations on February 21 and 22 in London.

The meeting will cover the full range of proposals tabled by the company last month, which included a plan to scrap a long-established agreement protecting the salaries of more than 100 staff with long service to the company.

In January, STV gave notice to this group of staff that they must decide by the end of the month whether to accept pay cuts which would be imposed after the protection agreement was scrapped, or give up their jobs in exchange for a pay-off.

After angry protests from union members, the company accepted that the staff had been given insufficient time to respond, and were entitled to three months notice of the protective agreement being withdrawn.

The company turned down a call from the union for guarantees of no compulsory redundancies to be given to producers and directors who face job cuts. However, the issue of redundancies in their areas will be discussed at the London summit meeting.

BECTU has warned Scottish management that members could take industrial action if no progress is made at the talks on the key issues of redundancies and pay cuts.