NT agrees to renew full contract with BECTU

The National Theatre has confirmed it will renew its agreement with BECTU following the union’s threat of industrial action over the venue’s plan to “water down” their joint contract.

Nick Starr, chief executive at the NT, said the venue would continue its current relationship with the union after discussions between the two had been conducted in a “spirit of problem-solving and candour”.

Earlier this year the NT said it wanted to reduce the terms of the union’s bargaining agreement, limiting the scope of its collective bargaining on pay, annual leave, hours, health and safety and training.

BECTU responded by threatening to take industrial action after its NT members voted in favour of this.

It has now welcomed the NT’s decision to continue with the agreement and said it hoped that all further issues would be resolved by Christmas, when the discussions are due to end.

A statement from the union said: “We welcome the decision to continue with a fully comprehensive agreement that will continue to serve the members and the National Theatre better than a basic statutory agreement. We thank members for their support so far and encourage them to participate in the next stage, which will involve departmental meetings.”

Writing to NT staff last month, Starr said: “Over the last three months we’ve been able to lay out to [BECTU general secretary] Gerry [Morrissey] and his colleagues our thinking about how things might run better across a number of different areas.

“The spirit of problem-solving and candour that has characterised these discussions has convinced us that the relationship is on the way to being re-built, and we have therefore decided that we wish to continue with it.”