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BOM strike: Bureau of Meteorology staff to take industrial action for next three weeks

The CPSU estimates that around one third of Bureau staff will take part in the industrial action. - Audience submitted

Staff at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) are going on strike for three weeks, after being locked in an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions for three years.



Workers said they had been left with no other option than to take industrial action, starting on Thursday.

"It will continue for three weeks, unless management change their position," Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) deputy secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch said.

BOM staff who are members of the CPSU would be protected by daily stop-work action, between either 7:00am and 10:30am or 4:00pm and 6:30/7:00pm.

Ms Vincent-Pietsch said the stop-work action was just one in a raft of measures to be taken by staff, which were designed to disrupt the BOM from within.



"We've got a range of activities that will be happening, some of it will be rolling strike action," she said.

"But some of it will be not responding to non-urgent media enquiries, not answering telephone calls, not responding to emails, the reading of a media statement when we do live media crosses."

The CPSU estimated about one third of bureau staff would take part in the industrial action, which was not due to end until August 9.

, though it only lasted for a fortnight.

Since then, the CPSU said little had changed, and its members were angry about work conditions, especially for staff in remote locations.

Ms Vincent-Pietsch said bureau staff had rejected an offer from management twice, yet nothing had changed.

"There's been no progress," she said.

"They [staff] feel that this is time to put the pressure on the bureau."

What if there's a weather emergency?

So, on Thursday morning when you wake up and go to check the BOM weather app, will it work?

Ms Vincent-Pietsch said most Australians would not see a huge difference during the strike.

"This is causing major disruption internally to the bureau," she said.

"They have got to move staff around significantly to ensure the day-to-day services are not affected, and they can continue to provide such things as the weather app and so forth."



The CPSU and BOM said provisions were in place to ensure that if there was an emergency, staff would break from their industrial action and ensure the public was kept informed.

In a written statement, the bureau said it would continue to deliver forecasts and warnings in a timely manner.

"The bureau has robust procedures and practices in place to ensure services essential for the safety and security of the Australian public will continue," the statement said.

However, the CPSU was not so sure it would all be business as usual.

"I question whether or not management will be able to deliver all the services they currently do because we have a lot of union members within the Bureau of Meteorology, and they're committed to take this industrial action," Ms Vincent-Pietsch said.

"It will be very telling."

The CPSU and bureau management said talks to resolve the impasse were ongoing.


- ABC

© ABC 2017

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