Arts Centre Melbourne workers face a battle between industrial and cultural policy

Arts Centre Melbourne (ACM) workers are embroiled in a dispute over industrial action and cultural policy. In a first-of-its-kind move, union members have embarked on protected industrial action for the first time in decades. Over the past month, workers have leafleted patrons and opened MSO performances with announcements about pay and conditions.

The action follows stalled wage negotiations between ACM management and representatives from the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Community and Public Sector Union Victoria, and Electrical Trades Union. Over 95% of union members have voted in favor of protected industrial action. ACM staff wages have fallen 10% behind inflation since 2022, and nearly 40% of the workforce earns the minimum award rate.

The management has offered a 3% pay increase, but union members argue this amounts to a real wage cut given current cost-of-living pressures. The dispute is occurring against a backdrop of funding crises in Australia's arts and cultural sectors, which have shrunk in Victoria by more than $20 million since 2022. The unions have called on Victorian Minister for Creative Industries Vicki Ward to increase funding for Arts Centre Melbourne and provide workers with a real pay increase that reverses years of wage decline.

This case highlights a growing tension between industrial and cultural policy in subsidized cultural institutions, where wage negotiations are often intertwined with questions of government support. Prior to the 1970s, bargaining in such institutions typically occurred between workers and employers, but cultural policy and industrial policy have become increasingly intertwined in recent decades.