Dancers at the Australian Ballet are planning to stage their first stop-work industrial action in more than 40 years on Friday night, as a campaign over pay negotiations heats up.
in Melbourne, delaying the start of the two-work original program that debuted in Sydney earlier this year by around 15 minutes.
While it might seem a particularly mild form of protest, the 15-minute delay is the most serious moment of industrial action the dancers have staged since they went on strike, twice, in 1981 after eight of the company’s lead dancers were offer reduced conditions of employment for the 1982 season.
“We have such love and respect for our careers and the art form, and this has not been an easy decision,” said one dancer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, of the decision to take industrial action. “Our careers are important to us, and they are quite short, but the dancers who came before us fought really hard for our conditions, and it’s our responsibility now to continue to maintain them.
“Over a three-year period, our dancers would receive a minimum 11.3 per cent salary increase, with potential for further increases under a capped CPI clause offer,” the letter, signed by artistic director David Hallberg and executive director Lissa Twomey, said.
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