Presenters, reporters and technical staff left their offices at 8am AWST, causing nationwide disruptions to regular broadcasting.
“We love the ABC. We love the work we get to do here. No one come to work at the ABC for the money… but passion doesn’t pay the bills,” said ABC Radio Perth reporter Emma Wynne.
Wynne is a member of the enterprise bargaining team for the ABC, and claims that management has failed its workers, and has attempted to bust the union throughout the entire bargaining process.
She calls for better job security and the change of long term rolling contracts, so staff aren’t in fear of losing their jobs. As well as a fair pay rise that can match the demands of the recent cost of living crises and increasing inflation.
The ABC enterprise bargaining team rejected the offer by management of a 3.5 per cent pay rise in the first year, and 3.25 per cent in the following two years, a number below the January inflation figure of 3.8 per cent.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks stood firm on the existing working conditions at the ABC and their initial offer, saying the offer was “appropriately balanced”.
Marks went as far as to change the definition of an “emergency broadcast” hours before the strike, which could bring staff back to the offices if there is a matter of national or international importance, such as the Middle East crisis and updates on cyclone Narelle.
Regular programming for TV, Radio and digital news was replaced by BBC world broadcasts.
ABC TV programs such as the 7pm bulletin, 7:30, will be off air, and will replaced by re-runs.
Wynne also calls for guardrails against AI in the newsroom, seeking assurances from management their jobs are not being replaced by AI programs without oversight.
“This is a claim that costs the ABC nothing, and is just about preserving trust in our work, and trust with the public,” she says.
ABC journalism staff are represented by the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) as their union.
In a statement on Monday, MEAA chief executive Erin Madeley commended the actions of the striking staff.
“ABC staff are taking this step because they want fair pay that keeps up with the cost of living, genuine job security, and working conditions that allow them to continue serving the Australian public with integrity,” she said.
In a ballot run by the MEAA, 90 per cent of nearly one thousand votes were in favour of industrial action.
MEAA called for donations from the public, in order to support ABC staff members who opted to go without pay to strike.
View this post on Instagram
There was representation from multiple Union organisations, including CPSU and the NTEU, who led chants of “Union. Power.”
Secretary of Unions WA, Rikki Hendon, said the ABC staff’s demands are measured.
“Those are the most reasonable demands of a bargaining round that I have ever heard.”
This is the first strike by ABC staff in 20 years.
Samuel Sparkes
I am a student journalist for ECU Vanguard News, covering a broad range of stories and news formats
