Friday, 3 February 2017

Unit 8 - BECTU fact file

Equal Opportunities

This is when the employee's in the work place are treated the same and have the same opportunities to get promoted, pay rise etc. This is ensured through legislation and can be punishable by fines if the employee feels like they are being mistreated. This usually applies to lower end jobs, and covers all aspects of all employment matters including recruitment, conditions of work, pay, hours of work, holiday entitlement, overtime, work allocation, guaranteed earning, sick pay, pension, training, promotion. This is in place to ensure that all employee's can have the chance to be promoted and have a better working life. 

In the past, there were no equal opportunities, the media was dominated by white male's who usually came from wealthy background's, however due to society's views and morals changing, it has led to a more diverse media industry. However due to legislation being made by ministers who represent the majority of the public, and public viewpoints have shifted and various new legislation has been out forward, in order to represent what the public wants:

  • The Equality Act (2010) and associated secondary legislation
  • Criminal Justice and Immigration Act (2008)
  • The Racial and Religious Hatred Act (2006)
  • The Civil Partnership Act (2004)
  • The Gender Recognition Act (2004)
  • Criminal Justice Act (2003)
  • The Human Rights Act (1998)
  • The Protection from Harassment Act (1997)
  • Special Education Needs and Disability Act (2001)
These laws ensure that all employee's have equal opportunities in the work place. However even with these legislation, people can still be prejudice and the higher end jobs in the media industry are still filled with white male's which can choose who they employ, so there is a human barrier to achieving full diversity, and there is no legal action that can be taken against employers who simply wont employ a racially diverse crew. However it is now seen that there is more diversity, especially with the addition of dark-skinned news presenters, so there is progress being made towards more equal opportunities, however education and training can be a huge barrier into getting into these jobs. There is more of a gender based issue however, in the UK, the wage gap remains high at 17.9%. 
However there is possible disadvantages to push for more 'racially-diverse' work force, as this means that the current workers have to be dismissed in order to bring in new employee's, which means that the current workers who have the necessary sills and experience still cannot find a job, which will create unemployment in the UK. 



















Belonging to a Trade Union


A trade union is a organisation that represents all the members in a particular work in industry, they are there to protect all workers rights, discuss the wage rate and the working conditions with the employers. The trade union for the media industry is BECTU ( Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union) They were founded in 2001 and act as a normal trade union to protect it's 25,000 members int= the media industry to ensure that they get equal pay and have good working conditions. BECTU has merged into The larger trade union Prospect, however they act as their own independent body and are also affiliated with General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU).
BECTU provides a wide range of services to its 25,000 members, which are:
  • Negotiating pay, conditions and contracts with employers
  • Personal advice and representation for individual members
  • Advice and representation on health and safety
  • Training support and courses
  • Networking events and career development opportunities
  • Website designed to improve access to the union's advice and support.
An example where BECTU is helping it's members:



Another Example of the BECTU taking action is with the ITV, directly linked with the TV industry. 









However the power and strength of Trade Unions have decreased immediately and strong, big firms can wait out the strike and eventually the Trade Union could give in, so this will mean that Trade Unions are not always succesful. Between 1980 and 1993 there were six Acts of Parliament which increasingly restricted unions' ability to undertake lawful industrial action.

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