Stage, Screen & Radio - October/November 2014 - 10

Freelance
Renewed agreement at Lime Pictures
Months of negotiations and soaring union membership saw unwelcome changes withdrawn

KIERON MCCARRON/ ITV/ REX

B

ECTU has renewed its collective agreement with Lime
Pictures, the North West
producers of youth entertainment
series including Hollyoaks, The Only
Way is Essex and Geordie Shore.
The new agreement, concluded
last month, follows months of
intense negotiations prompted by
management's bid to change
terms and conditions of
employment.
National official Jo Livesey and
supervisory official Spencer
MacDonald supported members
during the long series of meetings
with management. Since the
difficulties emerged in late 2013
branch membership has soared,
new branch representatives have
been elected and trained and the
union's presence at the company
has been strengthened.
The controversial talks on terms
and conditions concluded with

Top quality: Lime
Pictures' Hollyoaks
wins Best British soap
at this year's British
Soap Awards

agreement on annual pay talks
including BECTU, in place of the
contractually binding agreement
to an annual RPI increase.
However management's plan to
overhaul production schedules,
move to buy-out contracts and to
have the option to make changes

to contractual benefits in future
without the need for consultation
- such as on health insurance and
death in service benefits - were
withdrawn.
The new agreement covers permananent staff at the company's
Liverpool campus in Childwall,

home to Hollyoaks production, and
allows for bargaining on all
employment issues including pay
and pensions, working hours,
redundancies and health and
safety.
Lime Pictures, formerly Mersey
TV, has had a union agreement in
place since 2003.
Jo Livesey commented: "The
tenacity, determination and support of the staff has enabled this
achievement. Once again the
solidarity of union members has
shown that workplace wins are
possible. We look forward to
seeing this branch grow from
strength to strength and negotiate
effectively with management
across workplace issues."
Lime Pictures is part of All3Media which is now owned by a joint
venture company formed earlier
this year by Liberty Global and
Discovery Communications.
l

PACT consultation goes on
On 12 October BECTU held
the biggest and most
representative meeting of
feature film freelance reps for
many decades. The subject
was the draft BECTU/PACT
Freelance Agreement, which
has been out for consultation
among both PACT and
BECTU's members for some
months.
About 45 elected reps plus
seven full time union officials
attended the meeting in the
Ibis Hotel, London. PACT
representatives Steve
Clarke-Hall and John McVay
attended for the first hour
to present PACT's view of the
draft. They answered some
robust questions before
leaving.
The discussion then
proceeded at a swift pace for
another two and a half hours
with some fierce criticisms of
the "minimum rates" pay
scales that the draft
agreement is based on. It
was a genuine exchange,
with viewpoints shifting as

10

a consensus gradually
emerged, and BECTU has
made contact with PACT with
a suggested way forward.
From the union's point of
view, the consultation has
revitalised some previously
non-functioning branches,
and given new impetus to
those that were already active.
Eleven key departments were
represented at the 12 October
meeting, as reflected by
representatives from BECTU's
London-based craft and
occupational branches. And
reps from a number of
Regional Production Division
branches attended from the
key centres beyond London.
There has been wide
consultation on the proposed
agreement over several
months and alongside it
BECTU membership has been
growing within the freelance
film and television community.
BECTU supervisory official
Tom Bell commented. "This
meeting gives us a base on
which to build."

Stage Screen & Radio October/November 2014
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Stage, Screen & Radio - October/November 2014

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