Hundreds of unionised ABC staff voted unanimously in favour of a protected action ballot on Friday, taking the first step toward a strike after pay negotiations stalled once again.
Around 450 ABC employed members of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance voted in favour of the ballot, indicating a potential strike as soon as next month.
The vote, which included ABC staff from across its national newsrooms, follows bargaining talks between ABC management and union representatives on Thursday that did not yield a breakthrough.
The union told staff that after the summer break, management returned to the table with no improvements to their pay offer, no band progression or improvements to proposed job security conditions.
“It’s time to STRIKE,” the email said on Thursday. “Enough is enough. Join us for a meeting tomorrow where we will update you on bargaining, the plan for strike action and ask members to endorse MEAA filing in the Fair Work Commission for a protection action ballot next week.
The ABC’s last offer, authorised by managing director Hugh Marks 12 weeks ago, included a 10 per cent pay rise across three years.
The other union representing non-journalistic ABC staff, the Community and Public Sector Union, is expected to conduct a similar vote next week.
The ballot forms the initial steps giving the union the ability to file an application for industrial action to the Fair Work Commission next week. Following that application, there will be a two week period for unionised staff to vote for or against strike action. The strikes are expected to then go ahead in March.
It is common for unions to vote to strike as a negotiating tactic. Ballots often also authorise union members to take industrial action that stops short of a strike, such as refusing overtime, not using workplace communications tools and plastering offices with union paraphernalia.
The ABC was contacted for comment.
Contract positions, as opposed to ongoing jobs, have become a defining feature of the negotiations.
The ABC was taken to the Federal Court by the media union over its use of such insecure contracts.
Around 10 per cent of all ABC staff are on insecure contracts, which the ABC has said gives their budget the “right level of flexibility”.
Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.
