The Broadcasting, Entertainment, Communications and Theatre Union (BECTU), formerly the Broadcasting, Entertainment, Cinematograph and Theatre Union, became a sector of the Prospect

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

on 1 January 2017 following the merger of BECTU with Prospect. It has approximately 40,000 members who work in

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting beg ...

, film,

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

, IT,

telecoms Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

entertainment Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight. It can be an idea or a task, but is more likely to be one of the activities or events that have developed over thousa ...

leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisur ...

and

interactive media Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various f ...

History

BECTU was founded in 1991 with the merger of the

Association of Cinematograph Television and Allied Technicians The Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians (ACTT) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1933 and 1991. History The union was founded by technicians at the Gaumont British Studios in 1933 as th ...

and the

Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance The Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA) was a short-lived British entertainment trade union. It was founded in 1984 with the merger of the Association of Broadcasting Staff and the National Association of Theatrical Televisio ...

, the history of which can be traced back to 1890. In July 1995, the Film Artistes' Association (FAA), founded in 1927 as a trade union for film extras merged to become a sub-division of BECTU. BECTU's affiliations included the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

, the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh T ...

Union Network International UNI Global Union, formerly Union Network International (UNI), is a global union federation for the skills and services sectors, gathering national and regional trade union. It has affiliated unions in 150 countries representing 20 million workers ...

, the General Federation of Trade Unions and the

Federation of Entertainment Unions The Federation of Entertainment Unions (FEU) is a joint representative body based in the United Kingdom, representing workers in TV, theatre, film, music, gaming, cinema, publishing, new media, professional football and other performing arts. The ...

. Gerry Morrissey was elected General Secretary in February 2007, after the position had been left vacant due to the death of Roger Bolton, who died from cancer in November 2006.

Merger into Prospect

BECTU announced in 2014 that it was in merger talks with the Prospect trade union which represents

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

managers Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts scientific research to advance knowledge in an area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engaged in the philosoph ...

s and other specialists in both the public and private sectors in the UK. Prospect is not currently affiliated to any

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

. At the BECTU Annual Conference held on 14 May 2016 it was agreed to ballot BECTU members on the proposed merger with Prospect. It was announced on 30 August 2016 that BECTU members had overwhelmingly voted Yes to the merger with Prospect which took place on 1 January 2017. BECTU became a sector of Prospect, with Morrissey continuing to lead the sector. In 2018, Philippa Childs took over as secretary of the sector.

Leadership

General Secretaries

:1991: Tony Hearn and Alan Sapper :1991: Tony Hearn :1993: Roger Bolton :2007: Gerry Morrissey :2017: Mike Clancy* * General Secretary of Prospect following the 2017 merger.

Head of Bectu (after 2017 merger with Prospect)

:2017: Gerry Morrissey :2018: Philippa Childs

Presidents

:1991: Tony Lennon :2010: Christine Bond :2014: Jane Perry :2020: Ann Jones* :2022: Eleanor Wade* * President of Prospect following the 2017 merger.

References

External links

bectu.org.ukCatalogue of the BECTU BBC archives
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick {{Portal bar, Organised labour Broadcasting in the United Kingdom Communications and media organisations based in the United Kingdom Entertainment industry unions Organisations based in the London Borough of Lambeth Stockwell Trade unions established in 1991 Trade unions in the United Kingdom 1991 establishments in the United Kingdom Trade unions disestablished in 2017 Trade unions based in London