Bectu and sister unions secure Coventry City of Culture agreement on pay and conditions

Bectu, working with the Musicians Union and Equity, has secured a memorandum of understanding to honour pay rates and terms and conditions for next year’s Coventry City of Culture.

Left to right: Martin Sutherland, CEO of the Coventry City of Culture Trust; Stephen Brown, Musicians’ Union; Mick Corfield, Bectu; Ian Bayes, Equity; and Lee Barron, West Midlands TUC.

Union representatives have worked hard over the past year to achieve this MOU, which secures fair wages and decent conditions for the thousands of creative industries workers who will deliver the Coventry City of Culture 2021.

The agreement means that the City of Culture will honour or exceed recognised industry rates of pay. It will ensure that workers who bring the City of Culture to life are paid fairly and do not find that their wages are undercut.

Mick Corfield, Bectu negotiations official, said: “I am really pleased to have worked alongside my fellow unions Equity and the MU to have achieved this MOU, which is underpinned by an agreement to honour Bectu terms and conditions and rates of pay for the next year’s Coventry City of Culture.

“Martin Sutherland, CEO of the Coventry City of Culture Trust, has also been instrumental in getting this agreement ratified and I would also like to pay tribute to our long-standing and well respected rep Frank Spencer. Thanks, too, to Equity’s Ian Bayes, the MU’s Stephen Brown and the West Midlands TUC regional secretary Lee Barron for all the time and effort spent to achieve this document.”

The 365-day programme of events will kick off in May 2021, and will include major artistic events, world premieres and commissions across theatre, music, dance, literature, comedy and visual arts. The full programme and partners will be announced in January.