Unions to force entry into ABC Ultimo headquarters over staff stress

• The Australian
• 12:25PM November 13, 2017

STEPHEN BROOK

Union officials will seek to force entry to the ABC’s Ultimo headquarters after 72 per cent of staff reported dangerous levels of workplace stress.

The Commonwealth and Public Sector Union and ABC health and safety representatives will invoke powers under the Workplace Health and Safety Act after a union survey revealed safety risks.

Sinddy Ealy, ABC Section Secretary for the CPSU, said the decision was not taken lightly.

“ABC staff and the union have been raising concerns with the ABC’s leadership since the start of the year,” Ms Ealy said.

“There’s been a lot of rhetoric from them about valuing staff but the bottom line is things have gotten worse. Workers cannot see any evidence that the ABC is mitigating safety risks or complying with the legislation, which is why we’ve been forced to take this action.”

The union said ABC has undergone 12 national restructures this year, not including tomorrow’s anticipated content restructure, which the union said would affect 3000 ABC employees.

The ABC plans to axe the old radio and television divisions and relocate content producing staff into three content groups of news, regionals and features and many staff will be forced to relocate over the next six months.

The union said only 10 per cent of ABC staff trust the direction the ABC’s senior leadership is taking the organisation, while 72 per cent have reported increased workplace stress and 60 per cent reported increased workloads. The union has surveyed 770 staff so far.

There's much more to Brooky's story at The Australian.

Possible sources of stress:

• mashed avocado on toast not mashy enough
• rumours that certified rainforest free coffee beans might have traces of rainforest
• this year's individual travel budget not enough to maintain Qantas Gold Frequent Flyer status