The B.B.C. and the Unions
The Association of Cinc-Technicians, which is dissatisfied with the wages paid by the B.B.C. to television camera-men, has attempted to bring to a head the whole question of the attitude of the Corpora- tion to trade unions, by giving formal notice of a dispute to the Minister of Labour. In so doing it has raised a strictly practical question. The B.B.C. may have been a little stiff-necked in refusing to use the normal methods of negotiation through trade union machinery, and insisting that it will only discuss staff matters with its own Staff Association. The T.U.C., on the other hand, may be right in complaining that such an attitude makes for avoidable friction. But a mere insistence on some stereotyped procedure, whether it is the one preferred by the B.B.C. or the one blessed by the T.U.C., will not necessarily lead to the most practical solution. The B.B.C. now negotiates with one body only—the B.B.C. Staff Association—while recognising the rates of pay and conditions laid down by a miscellaneous body of trade unions of which some of its employees are members. The question is, would there be less fric- tion and more satisfaction all round, if it decided to adopt the system of joint negotiations with all the unions affected ? The answer is by no means clear. There have been any number of recent examples of the fact that unions negotiating with a single employer disagree among themselves, poach on each other's membership and even fail to control their own members. Harmony is by no means assured by the mere adoption of the methods recommended by the T.U.C. And it is certainly not promoted by the Cine-Technicians' decision to bother the Minister of Labour with their grievance. In fact if the B.B.C. can prove that the method it favours is the most efficient in the long run, that should be enough. But it must prove it.
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