Fans of Macy Gray were met by hundreds of Arts Centre Melbourne staff on strike for the first time in the institution’s history on 11 September. More than 95 percent of union members voted in favour of the 24-hour strike, rejecting management’s 3 percent offer and instead demanding an above-inflation pay rise, back pay from last October, and increased government funding for the arts.
According to the unions covering the workers—the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the Communications and Public Sector Union—Arts Centre staff wages have gone backwards in real terms by 10 percent since 2022, and almost 40 percent of the workforce is paid at the minimum award rate. Management’s 3 percent pay rise offer amounts to a further cut in real wages.
Nearly half the workforce is casual, and contact between workers is limited. Workers serving drinks at the bar, for example, might never interact with the ushers who seat people. The high turnover characteristic of casual work also means people don’t work with the same people consistently. This creates barriers to organising the workforce, and highlights why the strike, and the broader campaign for a better agreement, is a significant achievement.
For many of the workers, it was their first experience of an industrial campaign. Many brought handmade signs and gave impromptu speeches, with several pointing out that without the work of hundreds of workers like them, shows would not happen. One stage management worker started a chorus: “Pay us better wages, or rig your own damn stages!”
Arts Centre managers say they can’t afford to increase wages because of the lack of government funding for the arts. Public funding is a real issue, with Victoria’s state funding cut by more than $20 million since 2022. Yet the Arts Centre CEO, Karen Quinlan, earns around $450,000 per year, according to their most recent Annual Report.
Much of the Arts Centre’s funding comes from private donors, including shopping centre owner John Gandel, who is worth nearly $5 billion, and the parents of Visy owner Anthony Pratt, whose net worth is more than double Gandel’s.
Socialists want a world in which artists are not censored based on the interests of corporate donors, and artistic institutions that enrich the lives of the majority, like public museums, galleries and theatres, are properly funded and those who work in and contribute to them are able to live a decent life.
Lucy Chapman is a union member working at the Arts Centre.
