PACT Agree 5.5% Film Artistes Pay Rise

PACT recently agreed a 5.5% rates rise for film artistes from November.
The Bectu negotiated deal will see a 5% increase that covers pay, travel, supplementary performance and service fees for film artistes, and comes into force from 1 November 2007.
Any production that starts on or after this date will be paying £75.80 for a basic eight hour day.
In addition to this, the union's negotiating committee has clarified a number of points in the PACT agreement that have been causing members problems, such as the start and finish times for night calls and day calls, and under what circumstances they can be called.
Bectu National Official Spencer MacDonald commented: "Gone are the days where members will be forced to give up their time for free, which, if there are 200 extras wanting to go home at the same time each day, can mount up.
"This new agreement is a reflection of the negotiating skills of Paul Kirby and Eric Kent who have been instrumental in delivering a realistic, relevant and effective agreement that will affect thousands of workers' lives."
Most significantly, signing off time will now be calculated as chargeable, single time, which the union believes is a real victory for common sense and shatters a 60-year agreement that refused to pay for the first half an hour of signing off.
(SP)