Journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation are threatening strike action after management outlined plans to cut guaranteed pay for about 70 staff members following revelations of underpayment at the public broadcaster.
ABC management has proposed removing pay-boosting “buyouts” that some staff members receive, after giving eight weeks’ notice. The move comes after fresh revelations of underpayment at the ABC, with a review by accounting giant PwC finding staff members were paid incorrectly for their skill levels and others weren’t paid enough for loadings and allowances.
ABC staff are frustrated with a decision by management to stop paying ‘buyouts’ to 100 employees.Credit:Steven Siewert
Buyouts are intended to be a mutually beneficial way for the broadcaster to pay staff doing long or unpredictable hours because they replace allowances, overtime and penalty rates with a higher base salary, usually about 25 per cent above normal levels, according to ABC sources.
However, the recent PWC review found some buyouts had left staff more than $10,000 worse off over a six-year period compared to their pay had they tallied up their hours.
While the move away from buyouts should leave workers better off, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said staff are wary they may not receive as much money given the ABC’s history of underpayments and are concerned about a lack of financial stability from logging fluctuating hours.
Staff at the ABC met multiple times on Tuesday to discuss their concerns. A motion passed by the ABC’s union committee requested the ABC freeze plans to end buyouts until more information is provided, and to acknowledge the losses that will have a flown effect to superannuation, parental leave pay and annual leave pay.
”Hundreds of ABC employees are dismayed and angry that management appear to be trying to reduce their colleagues’ take home pay through a confusing and quite likely inaccurate series of calculations, and during a global pandemic that has already created massive uncertainty for staff,” a statement by the ABC’s national house committee said.
“We’re asking management to freeze the process and provide more detail to staff about their plan,” the committee said in a statement. “If they don’t, they are on notice that staff will be actively resisting this egregiously unfair action.”
An ABC spokesman said the broadcaster’s review of its pay arrangements was to ensure staff received fair pay, was not an efficiency measure and staff were being consulted in its wake where concerns could be raised. He said paying staff their salary plus any overtime, penalties and allowances under the enterprise agreement was the ABC’s preferred way of remunerating its employees.
