When and how did the campaign start?
SBS has had a union workplace agreement for decades, and union members there have been organising in an ongoing way ever since. The main goal of these negotiations was to fix the broken classifications structure, which is a campaign we commenced back in 2017.
SBS is the multicultural broadcaster for Australia and the main source of international news for many of us. They connect diaspora communities and provide news and information in 68 different languages. Journalists who had provided news and information in languages other than English were classified differently from English-language journalists. It meant that they reached a pay ceiling at pay band 5 of the agreement, whereas English language journos could get paid up to band 8.
The diverse language journalists do all the same work as other journalists, including upskilling to do broadcast presenting, production, reporting, writing, website content, podcasting and more.
What strategies and tactics were involved in the campaign?
In 2017, members raised concerns about the racist pay structure. Management refused to admit to the problem. In 2 rounds of EA negotiations members got organised to demand a review of the restructure. Management continued to push back.
Members were fearful for their jobs, due to a racist and bullying culture in the workplace. But the English language and diverse language staff backed each other and stood together. Dozens of workers sent emails en masse to management at the same time, flooding their inboxes to demand a fair classification review process and equal pay for staff. Management finally agreed to the restructure.
In the latest round of negotiations, management tried to use the restructure to drive down wages for all staff, so members once again had to organise and push back. Close to 250 members wrote personal stories detailing the challenges of working at SBS and read them to management at the bargaining table. The overwhelming message of unity and anger amongst the workforce forced management to provide a better offer, which was voted up.
What were some of the challenges MEAA and members from the SBS faced along the way?
A workplace where members come from lots of backgrounds and lots of experiences of what unions, bosses and governments can be like can make it difficult to take a unified approach. The English and foreign language workers have been deliberately divided for decades, even working on opposite sides of the building. The English language journalists had many issues of their own and were being asked to prioritise fixing the racist pay structure above their own needs. The specialisation that SBS provides also makes it difficult for some journalists to get work elsewhere, making them more fearful of losing their jobs and more willing to put up with racism, bullying and exploitation at work.
How did you overcome these challenges?
Building a strong network of delegates was important. Our communications focused on uniting all workers around the priority of eliminating racist pay structures in the workplace. We had regular meetings, posters and built up from anonymous to identifiable collective actions to maintain worker safety. We also called SBS out publicly and privately for the bullying culture, at every opportunity.
What does this win mean for journalists at the SBS?
While there is a long way to go before we fully change the culture at SBS and racism in the Australian media industry, we now have an agreement and a pay structure that considers all journalists to be journalists and to produce valuable work, worthy of equal pay.
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