 |
| It comes after 60% of ABC staff rejected management's offer of a 10% total pay rise over three years (Image: Getty Images) |
Staff at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) will go on strike on Wednesday for the first time in 20 years, after rejecting a pay rise offer.
The 24-hour strike will begin at 11:00 local time (00:00 GMT) and is expected to disrupt live television and radio broadcasts.
It comes after 60% of ABC staff rejected management's offer of a 10% total pay rise over three years - 3.5% in the first year and 3.25% in the two years after. In January, Australia recorded an annual inflation rate of 3.8%. The unions claimed that the offer was too low and did not address many other issues, such as the use of artificial intelligence and leave for reproductive health care.
Read More: Did Australia's under-16s social media ban work?
The offer was approved by 75% of the ABC's 4,500 employees on Sunday. Michael Slezak of the Media, Entertainment, and Arts Alliance (MEAA), a union representing journalists, stated, "We can't accept a deal that cuts conditions, sends pay backwards against inflation, and refuses to rule out replacing ABC journalists with AI bots." According to Jocelyn Gammie of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), disruptions are "inevitable" unless ABC makes a "fair offer." She stated, "Key bargaining claims remain unresolved, and the last thing union members want to do is inconvenience loyal ABC audiences by disrupting programming and services." But ABC managing director Hugh Marks said the offer "reflects the maximum level the ABC can sustainably provide and is balanced when looking across all the factors that we need to consider".
Marks said the offer was "both sustainable and financially responsible".
The ABC will ask Australia's workplace tribunal, the Fair Work Commission, to help resolve the dispute.
The last time ABC staff members went on strike was in 2006, over pay and employment conditions.
Source: BBC
Posts
0 Comments