NT staff payrise welcomed by Bectu

Published Tuesday 19 October 2004 at 14:00 by Ruth Gillespie

Bectu members have unanimously accepted a two-year pay offer from the National Theatre in London, which will see wages increase by 3.5% in 2004 and 2005.

In addition to the salary rise - backdated to April 1, 2004 with the second due in April, 2005 - management at the National has also agreed to raise its employers’ contribution to the staff pension scheme by 0.5% each year.

A spokesperson for the National said: “We are delighted to have agreed this two-year deal since it gives security to the staff and promotes continuing good relations between the NT and Bectu.”

Meanwhile the union has begun talks with the Society of London Theatre, which represents commercial theatre in the West End, to radically rewrite its existing pay agreement.

Willy Donaghy, union supervisory official, said: “We are entering these negotiations with a view to consolidating as much as possible into the basic wage package. We have agreed some things in principal but it is too early to say when we might be ready to announce a new deal.

“We had a minor dispute with SOLT a couple of years ago and from that we got significant pay increases. However, during that process it became obvious we needed to rewrite the agreement. The existing system was put in place some time ago and there have been huge changes in working practice since then. We need to modernise what is there already and this will be a major piece of work.”

In 2002 Bectu won a massive pay rise, worth an equivalent of 11.3% on average, conceded by the Society of London Theatre after 96% of union members voted in favour of industrial strike action. The news was hailed as a significant breakthrough, as SOLT had originally offered 1.6% in November 2001 - although this was made with a proviso of a review in six months’ time. However, the relationship between the two bodies reached its lowest point when, earlier that year, SOLT’s chief executive Richard Pulford caused outrage among Bectu members by questioning whether they deserved a pay rise.