Association of Broadcasting and Allied Staffs, earlier the BBC Staff Association and the Association of Broadcasting Staffs

Rules, 1969; annual council agenda and reports, 1971; journals, 1974-1982.

The Association originated in discussions which took place in the late 1930s at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). The discussions were interrupted by the outbreak of war in September 1939 but the BBC Staff (Wartime) Association was established in May 1940 and the Association of BBC Engineers in 1941. These amalgamated in 1945 to form the BBC Staff Association, which was not affiliated to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and was seen by many other trade unionists in this period as insufficiently independent of the employer. As a result, the Staff Association faced bitter attacks on its position in the late 1940s by a number of affiliated trade unions which, under the aegis of the TUC, sought recognition from the BBC. The attack on the Staff Association's position, however, had only limited success. The Beveridge report on broadcasting of 1951 strengthened the Association's position by acknowledging the Association's independence of the BBC. The subsequent recognition of outside unions by the BBC maintained the Association's position as the main organisation representing BBC staff. In March 1956 the Association's title was changed to the Association of Broadcasting Staff (ABS) as a result of the Association's attempt to extend its aegis in the aftermath of the introduction of commercial television. This led to internecine union conflict in the period 1955-1957 after which the ABS was ousted from the independent television companies. Despite that reverse, the Association gained recognition by the Independent Television (subsequently Broadcasting) Authority as the sole representative body for its staff. The Association affiliated to the TUC in 1963 and its title changed again in 1974 to become the Association of Broadcasting and Allied Staffs. In 1984 together with the National Association of Theatrical Television and Kine Employees it formed the interim body the Entertainment Trades Alliance which became the fully merged body the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance in 1985.

This collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

This collection was transferred from the University Library, ref. 41T.

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/ABA

There are no restrictions on the use of this archive, apart from the requirements of copyright law.

This collection has been weeded for duplicates.

Further deposits are not expected.

The Modern Records Centre also holds: records of the BBC branches of the Broadcasting Entertainment Cinematograph and Theatre Union, which include records inherited from the Association of Broadcasting and Allied Staffs and the Broadcasting and Entertainment Trades Alliance (BETA); records of BETA as a separate collection; records of the National Association of Theatrical, Television and Kine Employees; records of the Association of Cinematograph, Television and Allied Technicians.