Unionised journalists at the ABC have ramped up pressure on the broadcaster’s managing director, Hugh Marks, who less than a year into the job faces the prospect of industrial action amid intensifying pay negotiations.
Tensions between ABC management and union representatives escalated this week after Marks was accused of trying to “divide” the workforce by refusing to share details of the ABC’s latest offer in a bargaining meeting before it was announced to staff.
The new offer, representing a 1% increase on the previous three-year deal put to staff in October, was delivered on Thursday, a week before employees even had a chance to vote on the earlier offer.
Under the updated proposal, staff would receive a 3.5% pay rise in the first year and 3.25% increases in the second and third. In an email to members, the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance — one of two unions representing ABC staff — urged members to vote it down.
