Holiday action suspended

Industrial action planned on Public Holiday scheduling by Studio members has been suspended.

After several hours of discussion, an offer has been made by management to reduce the number of people incorrectly scheduled RDs over Bank Holidays.

Basically allocation of Public Holidays will follow the union's position on correct RD scheduling except that management will be able to incorrectly schedule up to 10% of the staff.

Anyone incorrectly scheduled on one Public Holiday will mean that the next Public Holiday, for the individual, will be correctly scheduled.

Volunteers may agree to an incorrect RD schedule if they wish, and those who do will not be counted in the 10% figure.

A scheduling guide will be written for both Allocators and staff so that no-one will be ignorant of the correct practice and the reasons for it.

This offer is both significant and sufficiently different from the three proposed BECTU options that it requires the union to run a consultative ballot to ascertain members' views.

Head Office will be writing to Studio ESPG members shortly with a more detailed report on the offer, along with official confirmation that industrial action has been suspended while the consultative ballot is being run.