Strike by Arts Centre workers threatens to disrupt Macy Gray concert

Workers at Arts Centre Melbourne are threatening to disrupt a concert by Grammy Award-winning American singer Macy Gray as part of a 24-hour strike over pay.

Staff at the centre – which includes the Arts Centre building and Hamer Hall and is Australia’s largest performing arts complex – say they will walk off the job for 24 hours on Friday as part of a campaign of industrial action.

Gray is scheduled to perform at Hamer Hall on Friday night. Other performances that could be affected in the Arts Centre buildings on the same night include the play Grimm in the Fairfax Studio and Burn the Floor: Luminous at the Playhouse.

Several hundred workers who are part of the Community and Public Sector Union and the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance voted to go on strike after rejecting a pay offer of 3 per cent, which they say is below inflation.

They plan to stop work from 12.01am on Friday for 24 hours and form a picket line outside Hamer Hall in the afternoon before a public rally in the evening.

An Arts Centre Melbourne spokesperson said management had been notified of the protected industrial action.

“Our team is working through the operational impacts of the planned action. At this stage, there has been no change to scheduled performances,” the spokesperson said.

They said ticket holders would be notified directly on Friday if any shows were affected.

The union members have stepped up their campaign in recent weeks, but despite a 30-minute stop work protest they have not disrupted shows.

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Debbie Cuthbertson is Culture’s News Editor based in Melbourne.Connect via X or email.Kerrie O’Brien is a senior writer, culture, at The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X, Facebook or email.AdvertisementAdvertisement