British Union Report

British Union Has Been Battered But Survives

If you're feeling complacent about the strength of your union, a quick look across the Atlantic could be salutary.

by Linda Dove

Twenty years ago the British film industry was 100% union, the ACTT (the equivalent of the IA) was a "closed shop" and very influential. Seventeen years of Conservative government have decimated the once-powerful trade unions. Union membership has been cut in half, and Britain has "the fewest employment rights in Europe", according to writer Polly Toynbee. Unemployment is high and most young people have only the vaguest notion of what a union might be. A whole generation has come of age since the unions could make a government fall and beefy miners marched in support of Asian immigrant workers.

Editor Peter Cox has been a union activist for more than twenty years. He explains that the pivotal moment for the ACTT was the 'TV-a.m.' strike. The company there kept crewing levels down, forced a lot of overtime and provoked the strike to break the union. The strike lasted for 15 months and ended without union recognition.

The ACTT amalgamated with two other unions and became BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinema-tograph & Theatre Union, covering everyone from director and extras to editors) but greater numbers were not enough. The government, undeterred by a divided opposition, introduced anti-union legislation so effective that calling a strike became more difficult than the Hampton Court maze, and "closed shops" were outlawed.

No longer sorting through people begging and scheming to join, BECTU, like other unions, has had to reinvent itself and persuasively market new services. It now offers insurance, tax advice, home-buying legal help, even free will-making, a discount to graduates, and it's just published an Editors Directory, says BECTU organizer Phil Hooley. Altogether, BECTU claims, it offers over 100 services to its members.

"Ending absurd demarcations" may be necessary, says Jack Dromey, head of the British Transport and General Workers Union. He's leader of another union that's developing a broader kind of unionism. "Multi-skilling" is already in management's vocabulary. BBC News, for instance, is planning to have "journalists retrieve and edit pictures, sound and archive material on desktop computers." Whether unions or management are in control of changes like that will be the issue.

The BECTU Editors' Branch recently held seminars with representatives of the major digital workstation makers where health concerns were a major topic (see sidebar "Mouse Cleaning"). Many issues editors in Britain are grappling with are the same as ours, so it's useful to share our experiences and gain a new perspective.

Not only is a lot of work in Britain non-union now but editing without an assistant is becoming the norm too. An executive producer at Channel 4 admitted that, while the new digital editing systems "give me more control", "the training of camera people and editors worries me as they don't get experience as assistants anymore."

Excessive hours and compressed schedules are another complaint members of both unions have in common. "You have to change the rhythm of your thinking time," says director/producer Dee Dee Glass, "There's no time for batting ideas around."

"You don't get to know your material as well on a digital system," adds editor Fran McLean, "because you don't have to spin through it."

BECTU organizer Phil Hooley is in charge of its post production branch. He hears about the increasingly long hours worked these days and is "exploring the health and safety angle." The liability of a production company if an editor has a car crash and claims he fell asleep at the wheel will undoubtedly be tested one day.

Now BECTU is growing again. The membership is toning its muscles to do battle for its health and future, and there's a strong possibility of a change of government at the next election. But there are lessons for us in the tremendous changes unions have been forced to grapple with in Britain. Hope for the best - but prepare for the worst.

Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 17, No. 4 - Sept/Oct 1996

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Copyright © 1996, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776


	British Union Has Been Battered But Survives If you're feeling complacent about the strength of your union, a quick look across the Atlantic could be salutary. by Linda Dove
		Twenty years ago the British film industry was 100% union, the ACTT (the equivalent of the IA) was a "closed shop" and very influential. Seventeen years of Conservative government have decimated the once-powerful trade unions. Union membership has been cut in half, and Britain has "the fewest employment rights in Europe", according to writer Polly Toynbee. Unemployment is high and most young people have only the vaguest notion of what a union might be. A whole generation has come of age since the unions could make a government fall and beefy miners marched in support of Asian immigrant workers. Editor Peter Cox has been a union activist for more than twenty years. He explains that the pivotal moment for the ACTT was the 'TV-a.m.' strike. The company there kept crewing levels down, forced a lot of overtime and provoked the strike to break the union. The strike lasted for 15 months and ended without union recognition. The ACTT amalgamated with two other unions and became BECTU (Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinema-tograph & Theatre Union, covering everyone from director and extras to editors) but greater numbers were not enough. The government, undeterred by a divided opposition, introduced anti-union legislation so effective that calling a strike became more difficult than the Hampton Court maze, and "closed shops" were outlawed. No longer sorting through people begging and scheming to join, BECTU, like other unions, has had to reinvent itself and persuasively market new services. It now offers insurance, tax advice, home-buying legal help, even free will-making, a discount to graduates, and it's just published an Editors Directory, says BECTU organizer Phil Hooley. Altogether, BECTU claims, it offers over 100 services to its members. "Ending absurd demarcations" may be necessary, says Jack Dromey, head of the British Transport and General Workers Union. He's leader of another union that's developing a broader kind of unionism. "Multi-skilling" is already in management's vocabulary. BBC News, for instance, is planning to have "journalists retrieve and edit pictures, sound and archive material on desktop computers." Whether unions or management are in control of changes like that will be the issue. The BECTU Editors' Branch recently held seminars with representatives of the major digital workstation makers where health concerns were a major topic (see sidebar "Mouse Cleaning"). Many issues editors in Britain are grappling with are the same as ours, so it's useful to share our experiences and gain a new perspective. Not only is a lot of work in Britain non-union now but editing without an assistant is becoming the norm too. An executive producer at Channel 4 admitted that, while the new digital editing systems "give me more control", "the training of camera people and editors worries me as they don't get experience as assistants anymore." Excessive hours and compressed schedules are another complaint members of both unions have in common. "You have to change the rhythm of your thinking time," says director/producer Dee Dee Glass, "There's no time for batting ideas around." "You don't get to know your material as well on a digital system," adds editor Fran McLean, "because you don't have to spin through it." BECTU organizer Phil Hooley is in charge of its post production branch. He hears about the increasingly long hours worked these days and is "exploring the health and safety angle." The liability of a production company if an editor has a car crash and claims he fell asleep at the wheel will undoubtedly be tested one day. Now BECTU is growing again. The membership is toning its muscles to do battle for its health and future, and there's a strong possibility of a change of government at the next election. But there are lessons for us in the tremendous changes unions have been forced to grapple with in Britain. Hope for the best - but prepare for the worst.
	Reprinted from The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter Vol. 17, No. 4 - Sept/Oct 1996 Guild Home \| Newsletter Home \| Top of Page Copyright © 1996, All Rights Reserved by The Motion Picture Editors Guild, IATSE Local 776