Freelancers need rights protection at London Olympics, says BECTU president

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A set of standards protecting the rights of broadcast freelancers is needed before the next Olympic games, the industry's union chief said today.

Speaking to Journalism.co.uk at a Westminster eForum event , Tony Lennon, president of BECTU , said freelancers are at risk of being excluded from employment opportunities during big media events like the London Games.

The union is already in talks with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) about freelancers' employment rights during the competition, Lennon added.

Issues being addressed include the treatment of freelancers as casual employees, diversity and 'the frequent lack of opportunities (...) to participate in fair selection' for broadcast work.

Such problems for freelancers are exacerbated by the 'disparate and quite numerate' nature of many of the broadcast employers during the Olympics, some of which are companies that only exist for short-term periods.

"We're arguing that the freelance employment sector should adopt the same standards that do exist in some of the more permanently employed parts of the industry," said Lennon.

"We have concerns about the Olympics specifically, because it would be a very sad day if a project that was partly sold on the basis of diversity ends up with an army of casuals and freelancers who are mostly white males.

"From a union perspective we're trying to ensure that freelancers who don't have much of a collective voice can use the values and aspirations of the Olympics to try and achieve a slightly better deal than they would in a normal employment situation."

To listen to Tony Lennon's thoughts on broadcast freelancers at the Olympics listen to the audio clip below:

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