ABC’s restructure must not trample on stressed and overworked staff

MEAA welcomes, with caution, the Content Transformation plan announced by ABC management today. MEAA recognises today’s audiences interact differently with the ABC and the ABC must move to meet these audiences.

However, staff are concerned these changes may make the job of delivering content to ABC audiences more difficult given given editorial staff are already overworked and experiencing considerable stress. MEAA will be examining the ABC's proposal closely with a view to identifying any short-sighted implementation of these changes that would exacerbate the already tough working environment.

MEAA members at the ABC have expressed strong concerns about further restructures that may result in:

• Shrinking career opportunities and pay increases
• A trend towards doing making senior, specialist positions and staff redundant
• Increased casualisation of the workforce
• A fall in editorial standards as demands on your time become even greater.

A first key step for implementing the proposed Content Transformation is for ABC to consult closely with coal-face staff, not just their managers to ensure the implementation of these changes build a strong and workable structure for the future and that invests in staff.

As such MEAA has called on News management to build on the recent inroads made with editorial training and commit to:

1. A clear and comprehensive definition of what “future skills” the ABC expects you to have for the digital and silo-free future;
2. A comprehensive training strategy to equip staff with these future skills, and
3. Rostered time off to attend relevant, upskilling training and rostered opportunities post-training to put those skills into action.

MEAA will consult further with members at the ABC about how they can engage and provide input to the Content Transformation process.