Whoops!

Dear BECTU member

Next week the roll-out of new BECTU membership cards for 2014-18 to all members will begin. As trailed in the Oct/Nov issue of Stage Screen and Radio, the new cards carry the words 'Better together' to reflect the union's ambitions for its work on behalf of members. A couple of your fellow members in Scotland have contacted us to express concern that this motto is the same as that being used by the pro-unity group in the debate about Scottish independence.

It is important to us that members appreciate that this situation in no way represents the adoption by BECTU of a position on the referendum outcome; we want to assure you that this use of the same motto by ourselves and the pro-unity group is entirely coincidental. The truth of the matter is that BECTU has used 'Better together' on its promotional material since January 2011, way ahead of the decision to run a referendum in Scotland and of the subsequent decision of the pro-unity group to adopt this campaign name. We do understand that 'Better together' now has specific political relevance to members in Scotland and for this reason future new promotional material for distribution in Scotland (posters, flyers etc ) will not carry this script.

Notwithstanding the coincidence, we hope you will carry your BECTU membership card with pride in the knowledge that the union remains fully committed to assisting you with issues at work, to helping to grow the industry's skills base and to supporting developments in Scotland centred on the good health of the media and entertainment sectors.

With best wishes

S Elliott
Communications Officer

:-D