Forecasters at the Bureau of Meteorology have stopped responding to media inquiries as part of industrial action aimed at the federal government.
The Community and Public Sector Union has said there will be a ban on “non-severe weather media inquiries” in Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia until 22 September.
The union said the ban was in response to the government’s “draconian bargaining policy” that it said was hurting meteorologists’ conditions and take-home pay.
Warnings will continue to be given for severe weather and the BoM said that contingencies would be made to compensate for the reduced work duties.
Beth Vincent-Pietsch, deputy secretary of the CPSU, said it was likely there would be strikes unless the BoM leadership negotiated demands over pay and conditions.
The union is unhappy over what it sees as an unfair trade-off between pay rises and forfeited conditions.
“BoM staff are very frustrated that in more than 15 months since their previous workplace agreement expired they are still waiting for a new agreement to be put forward,” Vincent-Pietsch said.
“Other government agencies have had new agreements put to votes while BoM staff are still waiting to see any offer at all.”
The BoM said it is working on a new agreement that will include “productivity and cost savings” in order to fund pay rises.
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