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ABC radio stations around Australia slapped a broadcast ban on Bureau of Meteorology forecasters earlier this month to stop the weathermen and women taking their pay dispute to the airwaves. The main union for the bureau's public servants alleges the national broadcaster was "leaned on" by the BoM's hierarchy to censor the regular weather broadcasts, but ABC management says it decided the protest action was "inappropriate". But the bureau says it was "working" with the ABC to continue its forecasting services while the industrial strife rumbles on at BoM. Reports also emerged on Thursday that bureau management had asked commercial radio stations to keep BoM forecaster off their stations while on the days when their actions were planned. The row came as public servants from the Employment and Defence Departments walked off the job in Canberra, Melbourne and Albury to hold union meetings as part of their ongoing disputes over wages and conditions. Forecasters from the weather bureau appear daily on the ABC's network of local, regional and metropolitan stations, as well as some commercial broadcasters, to talk to announcers about local conditions. BoM officials secured "protected action" status from the Fair Work Commission last month for a number of industrial actions, as they try to force their bosses to make them a pay offer, including reading out protest statements as part of their ABC broadcasts. But ABC local radio bosses sent out a directive banning their stations around the country from calling the bureau on the days when the actions were planned. An ABC spokesman confirmed the broadcaster decided its official policy was that it wanted no part of the weather bureau's dispute. "It is inappropriate that ABC airtime is used to deliver an industrial message," an ABC spokesman said. "Editorial Policies clearly state that editorial should not be improperly influenced by political, sectional, commercial or personal interests. "Audiences still receive up to date weather across the broadcast schedule, and editorial staff draw on the BoM websites which provide our broadcasters with a range of detailed reports." He said that ABC journalists were free to report on the industrial dispute at BoM if they decided the story had merit. But CPSU Deputy Secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch said there was a broader agenda at work. "This shows that government is doing everything in its power to prevent the facts of bargaining getting out to the wider community," the union official said. "Putting pressure on the ABC shows the lengths government will go to in order to gag public servants from telling people about this Government's attack on workplace rights, conditions and real wages in bargaining. "Our members in BoM know they have a lot of community support and that is what Government fears the most. "They've repeatedly tried to knock our action off but we're no pushover." A Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the ABC made its own editorial decisions. "Decisions by the ABC in relation to their editorial policy are a matter for the ABC," he said. "The Bureau of Meteorology is working with the ABC so they can help their broadcasters identify relevant reports from our website and update their audiences with current weather information while industrial action is being undertaken by some Bureau staff as part of an Enterprise Agreement process."

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