The secret messages in Australia’s weather forecasts

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The secret messages, which included the hashtags “#BOMonSTRIKE,” “#5yearpayfreeze” and #SupportUs, along with links to a union petition, popped up on social media after members of the public started noticing them and praising their creativity.

“Today’s forecast: Cloudy with a chance of industrial action,” tweeted author Campbell McConachie, along with a screenshot of a forecast with the union hashtags.

Similarly, self-described “worker, anarchist, and shameless agitator” Kieran Bennett posted: “Today’s forecast? Industrial action!”

A satellite note even had an acrostic hidden in the text, reading “BOM ON STRIKE”.

The bureau and its staff are locked in a pay dispute as an agreement covering the employees expired in June 2014.

The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), which claimed credit for the unique industrial action, said in a statement that BoM staff “have been forced to endure a wage freeze for nearly five years, simply because they refuse to sacrifice working conditions.”

The union also accused the bureau of a “heavy-handed response,” and “extraordinary overreaction,” as its management introduced a series of new checks and controls before forecasts can be transmitted or posted on social media.

BoM defended its actions in a statement, saying that while it “respects the rights of union members to take protected industrial action,” it also has a responsibility “to ensure that its products and services, including its forecasts and warnings, are not compromised.”

It added that a new agreement proposal has been put to staff ahead of a formal vote on June 22.



Source : Nbcnewyork