Bonus improvement call
BECTU is calling for improvements in both the structure and administration of the new ITV staff bonus scheme.
The scheme, now in its second year, is made up of a £303 cash payment and a grant of £500 worth of company shares.
However, because share certificates only started arriving last Saturday 12 May, accompanied by a letter dated 2 May, staff will be deprived of the opportunity to sell the shares immediately (should they so choose) to offset the tax which is payable straightaway.
In addition, staff have lost out on use of the free share dealing service which the company had offered.
On 13 April, when details of the 2006 staff bonus were announced, John Cresswell, ITV's chief financial officer, wrote: "We are aiming... to award the shares in early May and will be offering a free share dealing service so that anyone who wishes to sell shares, for instance to cover that tax, can do so immediately. This will enable any proceeds from the sale of the shares to be received before the May pay date".
Commented BECTU Supervisory Official Sharon Elliott: "Sadly, none of John Cresswell's promises have been fulfilled and what should have been a good news story for ITV staff has only caused problems.
"The bonus is modest and our members are feeling the pinch in common with workers up and down the country.
"It is even more important therefore that staff's monthly finances are not unsettled by the bonus and where money can be saved that staff are given the opportunity to act.
"Sadly, ITV has not organised the share grant with proper care and attention which means that staff wanting to sell their shares now will be out of pocket in the short term and will also have to pay to sell the shares".
BECTU alerted senior managers to the problem on Monday 14 May and suggested a number of possible solutions. A response to that communication has yet to arrive.
BECTU, together will its sister unions in ITV, has also urged the company to re-think its approach to the bonus and to make any future share grants under a government approved share scheme, or Share Incentive Plan (tax and national insurance are not payable on share grants made under SIPs where the shares are held for a five-year period).
ITV's 2006 bonus announcement also presented another sting in the tail for some of ITV's former employees.
These include security staff (now employed by Reliance) and transmission staff (now employed by Technicolor Network Services), who were both promised, as part of the arrangements for the TUPE transfer to new employers, that they would receive the 2006 Bonus.
However, ITV has now stated that those staff will only receive the cash element and not the shares grant (or its cash equivalent).
BECTU has challenged ITV to keep to the agreements it reached on behalf of the staff affected, many of whom had long service with ITV and its predecessors.