Unions pass motion condemning ABC cuts and urging redundancies be open to all
Unions have hit out at the ABC management for the decision to “make savings ahead of the Governments cuts schedule” and called on managers to “genuinely consult” with staff over the proposals to cut over 400 jobs laid out on Monday.
ABC staff members of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) met in Sydney and Melbourne today to pass a motion condemning the government for the cuts as well as management for the way they are bring handled.
Staff at the public broadcaster are angry at the way the cuts are being handled, and the motion condemns a “skills matrix” system drawn up by management to adjudge which at risk staff should be made redundant, and asking management to open up the redundancies to all staff to allow those who wish to stay to be redeployed.
MEAA federal secretary Christopher Warren said: “ABC management’s approach continues to be one of secrecy and non-consultation which is angering people who want to know whether they will have a job after Christmas.
“Management has adopted a bizarre approach to identifying jobs to be lost that targets individual employees. The smart approach would be to offer voluntary redundancy that allows those who want to leave to go and those who want to stay to be plan how the work will be done with fewer staff.
“Trying to reverse engineer such massive job and funding cuts is nonsensical and foolish.”
CPSU National President Michael Tull said: “Members are very concerned about the way the ABC is going about making these cuts. They want to know why the ABC is trying to make all of the cuts immediately, instead of applying the staggered schedule of cuts set by the Government.”
The motion as passed:
This meeting condemns the brutal budget cut handed down by the Federal Government.
This meeting also condemns the decision by ABC management to make savings ahead of the government’s cuts schedule, and to target staff for redundancies to achieve these cuts.
We call on management to:
• Meet their obligations to genuinely consult with ABC employees, and
• Exercise their discretion under the terms of the EBA and open this round of redundancies up to all staff, and to redeploy qualified, committed staff who wish to stay with the ABC into those roles.
We also resolve to:
• take any and all steps necessary to demonstrate to our employer that ABC employees are opposed to involuntary redundancy, and
• call on ABC employees to join their union and participate in this crucial campaign.
We as staff reject ABC management’s skills assessment matrix and will not participate in this duplicitous process, where management are clearly carrying out a program of targeted redundancies, the outcome of which we the staff feel has already been decided.
This meeting resolves to meet again next Week to consider management’s response to our calls, and resolves to take further action if our demands are not met.
Woopy dooooo!
Would you expect the union to say ANYTHING different?
What are unions for if not to protect their patch – and the millions of dollars raised in union dues?
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The unions involved in the media do far more than just look after their membership Rrrosco.
They are also doing all they can to lift and protect the quality of content in public access media. Looking at what is reported in the story above it would appear they have a better grasp on how the ABC should cope with the Abbott budget cuts than those running the ABC.
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