The media union has come away from a “positive, constructive” session with the head of ABC as the threat of future strikes hangs over the national broadcaster.
Employees and representatives of the media union met face-to-face with ABC managing director Hugh Marks on March 30 after swathes of staff took part in the national broadcaster’s first major strike in two decades.
Negotiations reached a stalemate when workers knocked back a 10-percent pay rise over three years, pushing for 13.5 percent, and protested what they say is the ABC’s over-reliance on short-term contracts.
The March 30’s meeting, mediated by the Fair Work Commission, was the first major discussion since the strike action.
“The commissioner facilitated really constructive discussions and we’re continuing to work through it,” Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance Director Cassie Derrick told AAP.
“It’s been really positive today.
“The next step is to go back to our membership.”
Marks had told reporters “we'll see how this goes” as he walked past them into the discussion.
That followed earlier comments in which he recognised staff had some “pretty poor experiences” at the broadcaster.
“We have a model that rewards people based more on tenure than on demonstration of excellence,” Marks told The Australian.
“I would like to move more to a model that rewards people based on outcomes, particularly some of our junior staff.”
He has continued to defend the ABC’s pay offer as “fair and reasonable” and said anything more could potentially compromise services to audiences.
Ahead of the negotiations, media union federal president and ABC environment reporter Michael Slezak said he did not think Marks’ comments were helpful but he remained open to future possibilities.
“We’re here with a really positive mindset to try to get something done,” he told reporters.
“We’re working through the options at the moment but we’re not ruling anything in or out at this stage.
“It depends where things go and what members want to do.”
Thousands of journalists, camera operators, technicians and other ABC workers went on strike for 24 hours from March 25, forcing the channel to broadcast re-runs, clips from BBC News, and contributions from non-union staff.
More than 4,400 people work at the ABC, including 2,000 in news, the largest division.
