BECTU and UK Theatre meet at ACAS

BECTU and UK Theatre met at the  Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) on 3 June 2019 to try and resolve the deadlock in the annual pay review.

The meeting came as a result of UK Theatres refusing to make a pay offer of an annual pay increases to the UK Theatre Agreements minimum rates which meant that they only required their members to implement ‘bare minimum’ pay increases for those on the government’s minimum wage.

Although the terms of reference for the discussions at ACAS should have been restricted to the annual pay increase it was inevitable that the ongoing discussions regarding the review and modernisation of the agreement would be raised.

Due to a reluctance of UK theatres not bringing anything new to the table BECTU, in an attempt to try and get a resolution to the impasse and allow further discussions on the agreement, proposed a compromise: that all minimum rates are either increased to a minimum of £8.21 or by 3% whichever is the greater, backdated to 1 April 2019. The 3% also applies to meal and subsistence allowances. That both sides commit to further discussions regarding the review of the agreement and that the services of ACAS are used to facilitate meaningful negotiations. UK Theatres will be consulting their members on this proposal.

BECTU remains committed to the idea of modernising the agreement and we want to find a negotiated and amicable way forward but this cannot be at the overall detriment of our members income.

ENDS

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