RSC's Stratford season faces cancellation over job strikes

Productions at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon could be halted after technicians voted for strike action over job cuts.

The technicians' union Bectu said the 90 per cent backing for industrial action on Thursday was an overwhelming vote of no confidence in the management. Bectu will announce dates for strike action next week unless managers take up an offer of talks at the arbitration service Acas.

Staff are furious over plans by Adrian Noble, the RSC's artistic director, to scrap the resident company of actors, abandon the company's London home at the Barbican, slim down its season in Stratford and perform more work in London's West End. They have been raising objections since the reorganisation was announced in May.

Under the proposals, up to 60 jobs are under threat in Stratford and a further 85 in London, although the RSC now hopes a retraining programme may reduce that figure.

Gerry Morrissey, the assistant general secretary of Bectu, said: "We have consistently told the management that their proposals are completely unacceptable to the staff." Stratford productions including Alice in Wonderland could be among the first to be hit.

A second ballot over the proposals will take place in the next few weeks at the Barbican, where staff were already in dispute over the implementation of the European Union working time directive. Chris Foy, the Royal Shakespeare Company's managing director, said he had received no notification of industrial action.

"Bectu have told us they want a negotiated settlement and not to enter into protracted industrial action. As part of the ongoing process of consultation, a meeting with Bectu is due to take place next Tuesday," he said.

Talks with other groups of affected staff not affiliated with Bectu have been going well, an RSC spokesman added.