How our union works

BECTU

BECTU provide the services you receive with your membership. This includes legal help, advice, consultation and representation when it comes to disputes, plus much more. BECTU employ full-time professionals who actively work with their branches, helping them campaign for better working conditions and rights, organise events, negotiate with employers, help the membership and so on.

— BECTU’s Branches

A BECTU branch is lead by a committee consisting of volunteers working in that department of film/TV. For example, the AVU consists of artists, animators and production who donate their free time to run the branch and are not employed by BECTU. These committee volunteers work with BECTU officials who in return provide members legal and general advice, help build campaigns, actively work with employers when it comes to disputes and so on.

Members need to actively engage with the branch so the committee can work with BECTU officials to unionise the industry. The committee only has so much capacity and cannot act on what they don’t know.

Think of the branch as a gym. It’s a place with all the resources you need to achieve the results you want. The only way to get the results however is by putting in work yourself. The branch cannot do it on it’s own.

The AVU Committee

Here is a list of each of the roles of the committee. If you’re interested in joining the committee then please do get in touch at animvfxunion@gmail.com.

Secretary

The role of the Secretary in a union branch involves the general overseeing of its day to day essential activities. The Secretary ensures the proper completion of tasks, often delegated to the committee or the membership. The secretary should strive to be an alias to a strategic lead officer or co-ordinator of their branch. The Secretary also normally takes the minutes of the meeting, and brings them to the following meeting to be signed by the Chair.

Chair

The Chair of the branch facilitates branch and committee meetings. They open and close the business of the meetings in question, and are charged with maintaining the procedure of the meeting and the schedule of the agenda. The Chair makes sure the conduct of a meeting fulfils branch democracy to its fullest, most efficient extent. The Chair and the Secretary work closely to make sure the functions of the branch are carried out and provide leadership to the branch.

Vice Chair

The Vice Chair role is essentially the same as the Chairs. Normally takes up the responsibilities that the Chair can’t  take on for one reason or another. The Vice Chair must keep themselves “in the loop” and should work closely with the chair on the business of facilitating meetings.

Branch Communications Officer

The Branch Communications Officer (BCO) maintains and contributes to the overall running of the Branches media outlets, mostly its social media presence. The BCO (and their working group if needed) makes sure that news and events of the branch are posted regularly to ensure maximum outreach to members and non members. They are also tasked with the creation of assets to be used in social media posts.

Membership Officer

The Membership Officer (MO) is tasked with increasing the involvement of the membership in branch activities. They also keep in contact with the membership with regular updates to union and branch business via email and social media. While members can come to any committee member to air a grievance or propose a motion, the MO is often the committee member to contact first.

Campaign/Events Officer

The Campaign and Events Officer (CO) Creates and organises any Campaign the branch or Union has committed itself to. Campaigns are often taken from suggestions of the membership and formulated into a singular campaign suggestion, or an idea from the Officer brought to the membership for approval. The CO is also tasked with the general planning of Events in the Branch’s calendar and the monthly socials.