The BBC’s proposals are more like a 6.5 quake that has the potential to set off a tsunami than the tweaking of figures. It shifts the playing field for all, newcomers, middle managers, end of career techs. And by our calculations all will loose out. The feeling is they really don’t want you in their pension scheme.

The BBC Board are doing this at a time when the 50 top executives, including the director-general, are receiving a pension top-up payment of over £1 million this year. The top eleven executives cost £4.8 in total remunerations: Mark Thompson, D.G. £834,000; Mark Byford, Deputy D.G. £485,000; Jana Bennett, Director, Vision, £515,00; Zarin Patel, C.F.O., £429,000; Peter Salmon, Director, BBC North, £430,000. These figures are from the BBC’s website. I could keep going but it gets really depressing.

A management that will do anything it can to avoid a cap on executives pensions while saying the 19,000 staff members must shoulder the hard times by having there final salary pension scheme ended for new members and for existing staff their “final salary” calculation can only increase by 1% of whatever salary they are on April 1 2011 (April Fools Day) is cynical and greedy.

Members have asked how this fundamental, the calculation of what their salary is, of a final salary pension scheme can change?

We’ve had legal advice that it can be done because the employer defines what is salary for ‘pensionable calculations’. So when you joined a scheme thinking as you gained in skill and experience and were rewarded with the pay compensating for the work, this would lead to a comfortable retirement you were wrong (unless you make it into that top 50).

Remember too that pensions are described as pay deferred. If this scheme goes ahead your pay will be attacked from two fronts; pay freezes, token increases and less in your pension.

Also interesting is that the plan is proposed to start from the 1st of December 2010. As of May the BBC expected to be hiring over 500 for new jobs in Salford Quays, many from the 1st January 2011, the numbers probably increased by the latest announcement of the Breakfast Show moving to Salford too.

They really are ensuring the new employees or employees with a short time working need have no loyalty to an employer that puts it’s staff at such a disadvantage. We need to recruit so that when we confront management we can do it from a position of strength.

Make sure you vote in the ballot for strike action and that the ballot arrives in head office by the 1st of September. BECTU needs to know your views and to have the power of your vote behind them.

But it was not just a funding source. The UK Film Council was also there to promote and develop the British film industry.

That the Con-Dem government thought so little of the film industry that it would axe a major support body without consultation sends dangerous messages around the world. Film financing and producing is a long haul business. We’ve seen before that the threat to tax incentives can lead to a bad employment year.

The film industry bucked trends in the last years to show steady growth in revenue and in film attendance. This means employment. And employment means taxes are paid.

Is this government so enamoured of making sure government is ‘small’ that it will rush it’s way into destroying hard realised gains?

Unfortunately the answer is turning out to be yes.

It is funny how change seems to come in waves. Tony Lennon‘s last column [in Stage Screen and Radio] as President was written just before the elections and the future government was not known. There was a small hope for a Labour or Lib-Lab government. We know now the government but where, what and how the change in policies will hit our industries is only being played out. What is clear is that the cuts are coming and that it is through our union that we can fight them.

Tough times are not necessarily bad times but they are always made better by working collectively. This is the message we need to spread. One of our biggest danger is colleagues who figure our dues should cover their needs. For the union to be strong in negotiations and able to run campaigns we need members, especially active members. It is through our collective activities that we can have the greatest impact.

BECTU is your union. It is there to fight for you, if needed; to represent you in negotiations; to argue for fair and equable working conditions. BECTU needs your involvement, voting for your representatives, participating in internal debates on our policy on piracy, public debates on low pay/no pay ‘contracts’, arguing for the importance of community theatres, defending the BBC as the best and the brightest of public broadcasters (even in these overly challenging times).

BECTU is also where by becoming active

• you make friends,
• learn to and become confident speaking in public,
• become part of a negotiating team for better pay and conditions,
• are subsidised and supported to gain more training and learning,
• find others to campaign on issues affecting yourself, members and the greater political world,
• and find those that think long, involved discussions on the bandwidth needed for radio mikes is a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon in a pub.

We work in the culture and media industries, whether as caterers, sound recordist, stage hands, archivists, runners or directors. We are involved in educating, entertaining, informing and inspiring the public. Some of us work on our own, most of us work as part of a team. Some teams last a day, some a month or six, some for years. The commitment and standards our members strive to always achieve make us some of the best in the world. And that skill and talent is recognised in all corners of the world. We need the government to understand that it is our skilled members who make possible the arts and media that envisions our nations and is exported to the world. Cuts of up to £23 million in just the Arts Councils funding in one year will have a major negative impact on all the areas.

I believe for all of our members the argument that the arts is a creative force that is critical to the nation, that puts us on the international stage and brings benefits financial and spiritual is one we understand well. But it is true that the seed monies, the investments of public spending is crucial.

It is time for a campaign to argue the importance and benefit of the arts. Whether it is to ensure that the BBC continues to make the quality dramas/radio programmes, etc it is famous for, or that our local theatres and arts centres provide for our communities or that films are made here, we need for politicians and voters to understand that the arts can provide growth and employment. Arts Council UK says “In 2009 the 52 major theatres in central London, representing a mix of subsidised and commercial theatres and productions, had their best year ever, worth £504 million in box office receipts.” If the theatres did well, chances are the hotels, restaurants and others also did well, and the economy got through some tough times with a little more ease and grace.

These are some of the arguments we can use to fight the cuts that are hurting us.

The Guardian headlines their article Cash for Culture Can Boost UK Economy, and says “The alliance argued that the arts were a growth industry that could have a major impact on the economy with the help of a minimal but crucial public investment.”

I believe for all of our members the argument that the arts is a creative force that is critical to the nation, that puts us on the international stage and brings benefits financial and spiritual is one we understand well. But it is true that the seed monies, the investments of public spending is crucial.

It is time for a campaign to argue the importance and benefit of the arts. Whether it is to ensure that the BBC continues to make the quality dramas it is famous for, or that our local theatres and arts centres provide for our communities or that films are made here, we need for politicians and voters to understand that the arts can provide growth and employment. Arts Council UK says “In 2009 the 52 major theatres in central London, representing a mix of subsidised and commercial theatres and productions, had their best year ever, worth £504 million in box office receipts.”

These are the arguments we can use to fight the cuts that are hurting us.

I especially appreciate the argument being made for increased funding in building up to the Olympics in 2012, rather than all of the lottery funding heading to the London Olympics.

We will have a few weeks to shine internationally and to fail because we have not sustained the creative sector would be a waste that could damage our cultural credibility in the years that follow.

Well done to the Arts Council for launching the Manifesto and campaign and let’s ensure that our members are supporting and arguing the cause.

For our own BECTU campaigns and elections, I am asking for your vote as RPD’s representative on the NEC and for President of the union. Ballot papers were sent out last week and members have until the 30th of April to vote.

Please encourage your colleagues to post in those ballots.