Staff from Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) have been banned from posting on official social media accounts and doing some radio broadcasts without supervision after some employees used weather forecasts to promote the details of an ongoing pay dispute.
Members of the public began noticing messages like #BoMonStrike, #Supportus and #5yearpayfreeze appearing in online forecasts, official Twitter posts and radio broadcasts on Wednesday, along with a link to a petition in support of the 1,600 workers.
According to the Community and Public Sector union (CPSU), BoM management responded to the action by “gagging” its staff, now requiring an additional level of checks before forecasts are transmitted and social media posts are shared.
The CPSU described the decision as a “heavy-handed response” and an “extra-ordinary over-reaction”
The messages were reportedly in response to negotiations over new pay conditions. The hashtag #5yearfreeze refers to the last enterprise agreement covering BoM staff, which expired in 2014.
CPSU said the bureau has not seen a general wage rise in over four-and-a-half years.
In response to the campaign, BoM management told Fairfax that it has since put a new agreement to its staff for consideration, ahead of a formal vote starting on 22 June.
“The proposed agreement provides a substantially front-loaded pay increase, protects core conditions, is financially sustainable and complies with the government's workplace bargaining policy," a spokesman said.
CPSU deputy secretary, Beth Vincent-Pietsch told SBS News BoM is one of the last Commonwealth agencies without a renewed agreement.
“Almost all other Commonwealth agencies, including Department of Human Services (Medicare and Centrelink), the CSIRO, the Australian Tax Office, and countless others have reached agreement,” she said.
Ms Vincent-Pietsch said while bargaining for wage increases have been a “disaster” across the board, the management in BoM have made the process particularly difficult.
Negotiations for a new enterprise agreement have been ongoing since February, but staff have rejected offers citing “below-inflation wage rise” and cuts in key conditions.
Ms Vincent-Pietsch said BoM staff will continue to roll out campaigns similar to this one “until management offer a deal that’s fair and reasonable.”
She said the response from the general public following the secret social media campaign has been very positive.
“CPSU members participated really enthusiastically in this particular action, and were really pleased and encouraged by the response of the community.”
