Bectu
Scottish Freelance
Branch
Who we are
The Scottish Freelance Branch of Bectu is constituted entirely of volunteers, as all branches of Bectu and Prospect are.
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We are proud to be involved in efforts to improve the lives of workers and their families and are committed to the cause of helping workers organise to improve their working lives.
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By fighting for legislative improvements and bargaining for fairer labour agreements, we continuously strive to raise work standards and improve quality of life for those in Scotland working in TV, Radio and Film.
Campaigns
The Scottish Freelance Branch's goal is to enable all freelance film & TV workers in Scotland to support, empower, and collectively bargain for each other with an honest and transparent approach. Here are a few campaigns the branch committee and the union has been involved with.
Safety Standards
This campaign by the camera shop with the Scottish Freelance Branch has changed the workplace at Edinburgh Rugby's new stadium.
This was an issue that urgently needed to be addressed, and the Scottish Freelance Branch committee facilitated numerous discussions among affected members, building the organising strength of the camera shop. The Scottish Freelance Branch and all of the craft shops are pushing for change and improvements constantly.
Prep & Wrap
Together with our sister branches across the UK, the Scottish Freelance Branch campaigns tirelessly for better workplaces.
Find out about the Prep & Wrap campaign and our latest activity on this website.
PACT-Bectu Agreement
Bectu renegotiated the TV Drama agreement with PACT from September 2021. The TV Drama agreement had been in place since 2017 and was well over due for updating. The negotiating teams worked hard to reach a new agreement, with the Scottish Freelance Branch committee feeding in to this team to ensure perspective of freelance workers in Scotland was represented.
Bectu and PACT maintain dialogue over joint guidance.
In late 2022, PACT published their latest version of the TV drama agreement and this was accepted in a ballot of BECTU members. 59.7% voted to accept, 40.3% voted to reject.
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We would like to thank all members who engaged in this process.
And that process continues.....
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The new agreement brings some major gains to some departments, but this is not the case for all.
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There is a lot of work to be done going forward.
In July 2023 Bectu and PACT met for the first since the negotiations, this was to fulfill the commitment to 6 monthly reviews. Whilst we received a constructive reception to our concerns, we have only reached agreement on about half of the dozen or so concerns we raised.
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Those that we found agreement on will form part of our joint guidance, putting an end to years of contradicting advice.
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The remaining issues will likely form part of our next 6 month review, due to take place in January 2024.
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