Recruitment drive at ntl
Broadcast and Network staff at media giant ntl are being encouraged to join the union.
Under a new agreement between BECTU and ntl Group Limited (formerly National Transcommunications Limited) BECTU has been recognised as the sole union to represent technical and support staff in two of the company's key divisions.
Staff in the Broadcast and Network divisions are being urged to join BECTU in a recruitment drive that has full support from the management of ntl. Many of the staff affected are already union members, having joined BECTU or its predecessor union, while working for the old Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). ntl took over hundreds of transmitter, planning, research and other staff when the IBA was privatised.
Since then, ntl has expanded the range of facilities it offers to broadcasters and other media customers, and the new agreement is hoped to boost union representation among the many new staff hired since IBA days.
The company has agreed to allow BECTU representatives time off where necessary to conduct union business, and promises facilities like use of computers, meeting rooms and telephones where appropriate.
Issues which will be covered by consultative meetings between ntl and BECTU include health and safety, welfare, education, working arrangements and "matters of common interest".
Annual pay negotiations are written into the agreement, along with the standard status quo clause, under which there can be no industrial action by union members until the recognised procedures have been exhausted.
BECTU has welcomed the new agreement as a sign that the union's long-established relationship with ntl has been strengthened.