From a workers' point of view, the last few years have been the toughest that most people can remember in our industries.
Yet BECTU has usually managed to prove the rule that wherever, and however, you work, you are better off in a union.
We have delivered pay rises for members, maintained the safety net of minimum rates for freelancers, and have fought to make BECTU workplaces safer and fairer places to work.
If I am re-elected as President, I hope to continue playing my role in helping the union to deliver results for members - that's why we exist.
Since the last elections two years ago the union has made significant strides forward both internally and industrially.
Firstly, our property problem has been solved. We have sold off our empty office in London and the union's accounts are now back in the black.
Secondly, we have won the right to represent, and bargain on behalf of, members in many workplaces that until now have been non-union. Freelance members in particular have voted for union recognition on several long-running TV shows.
As our industries continue their shift into more casualised forms of work, I believe that one of BECTU's top priorities is to recruit and organise freelancers. They will soon be the largest single group of members in the union, and deserve the full protection of union membership.
One of BECTU's top targets for freelance rights must be the BBC, now the biggest employer of casual labour in our sector, but still firmly opposed to a single agreement covering terms and conditions for freelancers.
While trying to win decent treatment for freelancers, we must of course continue to defend members in full-time jobs. For many workers, the best way to hang on to a living wage, safe and rewarding working conditions, and the prospect of a pension, is to remain in permanent employment.
BECTU should not be shy about defending full-time employment, even though it seems to be going out of fashion in many of our workplaces.
We should fight against needless redundancies, and purposeless privatisations, with vigour.
Employers of permanent staff must be kept under pressure to apply best practice on training, health and safety, and diversity, setting an example for others to follow.
I believe we will better achieve these objectives by remaining as we are - a small, independent, and specialist union, which is able to understand and respond to its members' needs.
Elsewhere in the union movement, the trend towards mega-mergers is still going on, but the experience of individual members in the giant super-unions indicates that bigger doesn't always mean better.
Although it is undeniably more expensive to belong to a specialist union, the service and support that we can offer to members in their time of need is well worth it.
To maintain our ability to look after members, BECTU needs to keep recruitment at the top of its priority list. The benefits of membership are clear, and should be explained to non-members, especially in key groups like younger workers, women, and people from ethnic backgrounds.
I stand for a union that serves its members, is run by its members, and listens to its members. I will be proud to serve another term as BECTU President, and will do whatever I can to help the union improve the lives of those members.
Website: www.tonylennon.info
