Tensions have boiled over during a nationwide shutdown of ABC broadcasting after unionised employees went on strike for 24 hours over an ongoing pay dispute.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks accused his own employees of treating the strike – which ended at 11am on Thursday – “like a bit of a game”.
“Sometimes it feels like a bit of a game to me, and I don’t think this is a game. I think this really serious,” Mr Marks told Nick Lowther on ABC Radio Sydney on Thursday morning.
“I think both sides need to say the audience comes first and we need to stop playing these games and get to an outcome.”
The accusations were put to MEAA deputy chief executive Adam Portelli shortly after on the same program, and the union boss made it very clear that he was deeply unimpressed.
“Frankly, it’s really insulting to the ABC staff and disrespectful to the role they provide to the Australian community,” Mr Portelli said.
“I assure you that ABC staff do not think this is a game … I would have thought the fact that they’ve taken industrial action for the first time in 20 years would make that clear to ABC management.
“We remain willing to sit down with ABC management to work this out.”
“Our members have been telling ABC management loud and clear for months that it’s just becoming unsustainable to work at the ABC.”
Mr Lowther probed Mr Portelli further on what kind of expectations the unionised staff had for the national broadcaster when it came to funding reallocation.
“The ABC’s offer at the moment provides a real wage cut for staff … this is really about priorities for ABC management,” Mr Portelli said.
“They have prioritised significant amount of money in court cases, (but) what they don’t seem to have done is budgeted for cost-of-living increases.
“We have seen (one employee, who) in three and a half years of being employed at the ABC has been on no less than 19 contracts.”
In 2025 the ABC spent more than $2.5m in a court case they would eventually lose over allegations they had unlawfully terminated journalist Antoinette Lattouf from a short-term radio contract after she reposted an Amnesty International social media post.
On Wednesday, opposition communications spokeswoman Sarah Henderson accused presenters of “hijacking” news programs and “pushing their case” on-air prior to the strikes taking place, suggesting those actions had breached the ABC Act.
Mr Portelli rejected those claims, highlighting that “what was done was protected under the law”.
“Some of the commentary I saw yesterday seemed to suggest yesterday that (speaking about the strikes on-air) was breaching their employment contracts … I think it’s really important for the Australian public to hear directly from ABC staff,” he said.
“Having these much-loved presenters honestly running through the struggles they are having makes the plight of the ABC much more tangible for people.
“We all love the ABC … and to see presenters wearing their hearts on their sleeve like that is really powerful and really important.”
The ABC is expected to go back to regularly scheduled programming on Thursday afternoon.
