Walking off the job for a week during the May federal budget is one of a number of options the media union is canvassing ABC staff on as it considers a second strike over pay and working conditions.
ABC managing director Hugh Marks will meet with staff and representatives from the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and the Community and Public Sector Union on Monday in a mediated session in hopes of breaking the stalemate that led to a landmark strike last week.
But while the nine-month process has reached a standstill and staff returned to work on Thursday, the union began asking members what future action they would be prepared to take.
Some of the options considered include a one-hour stop work during the next Reserve Bank of Australia rates decision in April, a second 24-hour walk-out to week-long walk-outs during April or during budget week in May. Action could also be limited to social media campaigns or writing to the ABC board.
Monday’s meeting will be mediated by the Fair Work Commission, after Marks last week said he was seeking the help of the industrial umpire over intractable bargaining orders. An intractable bargaining order or declaration can be made by the commission when negotiations have gone on for more than nine months, and it deems them to have hit a dead end.
But on Sunday, an ABC spokesperson backtracked on Marks’ previous comments, saying the broadcaster was not currently seeking an intractable bargaining order, and that it was looking to first seek resolution with the help of the commission on Monday.
ABC management and union representatives are yet to agree on a number of issues ranging from pay, secure contracts, automatic pay band progression and clauses protecting journalist jobs from being replaced by artificial intelligence in future years.
Many of the ABC’s more than 2000 union member staff walked out last week, shutting down many of the ABC’s services after 60 per cent of those who voted rejected Marks’ latest offer.
Following the offer, which included a 10 per cent pay rise over three years, the MEAA, which represents the majority of unionised ABC staff alongside the CPSU, reduced its own proposal to a pay rise of 4.5 per cent each year for three years.
Marks appeared on ABC Local radio on Thursday morning in the final hours of the strike, claiming that the offer on the table for staff of the public broadcaster was more than that being offered to Victorian teachers, who also walked off the job in major strike action last week.
However, the 10 per cent offer for ABC staff over three years is below the annual increase offered to the Australian Education Union of 17 per cent over four years last week, which it turned down.
Marks has since indicated his intentions to hold firm on the current 10 per cent pay offer, though he has signalled a willingness to address some of the experiences raised by junior staff.
“I know many of them do not have ideal experiences. I can’t begin to imagine some of the experiences that some of – particularly our junior and entry-level – come through in the ABC. I think in there is something we have to address,” he said on ABC radio.
Insecure contracts and the ABC’s ongoing use of fixed-term or rolling contracts have been a major focus point for both unions. Speaking to this masthead last week, Marks dismissed claims of widespread job insecurity at the ABC, saying that “more than 90 per cent of our staff are on long-term contracts”. The ABC spokesperson reaffirmed this position this week, though some sources have said this figure does not include casual staff, which could account for at least 500 employees.
The cost of increasing its current offer from 3.5 per cent to 4.5 per cent in the first year would be $7 million. Marks has said the one-time $1000 bonus paid to staff put its offer ahead of recent inflation figures of 3.8 per cent, though the unions said including the cash offer in base pay figures was not an accurate link to draw.
The ABC’s budget is $1.23 billion in the 2026 financial year. It has additional funding of about $125 million from other sources, such as content deals and grants.
The 24-hour shutdown crippled the ABC’s ability to put live broadcast content to air. Its flagship nightly television news bulletin was pulled on Wednesday, alongside national current affairs program 7.30.
Radio services were replaced by the BBC’s World Service, repeats and pre-programmed music on triple j and ABC Classic. Many of the 53 Local Radio stations broadcast a national, extended breakfast show on Thursday, hosted by Sydney station manager Nick Lowther and former AM presenter Sabra Lane.
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