Australians could face more local news and program blackouts if the national broadcaster’s management cannot reach a resolution with striking workers.

ABC staff walked off the job for 24 hours from 11am AEDT on Wednesday, for the first time in two decades, to push for better pay and conditions.

They warned further industrial action was likely their demands weren’t met.

As its employees walked out, the ABC turned to content from the BBC, re-runs and members’ statements in federal parliament to fill the void.

Youth broadcaster Triple J switched over to a pre-prepared playlist of music. Nightly news bulletins and flagship current affairs program 7.30 did not go to air on Wednesday night and ABC News Breakfast was not broadcast on Thursday morning, along with local breakfast and morning radio programs.

Thousands of striking journalists, camera operators, technicians and other staff rallied outside more than 60 ABC offices, including in Melbourne and Sydney.

It was a strange feeling for Victorian state political reporter Richard Willingham, who said workers were striking because they didn’t feel they could get ahead or survive working as a journalist.

Management had long told workers everything was rosy at the ABC, but business journalist Dan Ziffer said it had ignored the unstable, insecure employment conditions and stagnating pay.

“The ABC is a bit like a s–t boyfriend,” he told the crowd in Melbourne.

More than 4400 people work at the ABC, including 2000 in the news division. Image: AAP

Radio presenter David Marr said workers had sent management a warning there would be more staff strife unless the situation changed.

“Further down the track there’s going to be more trouble unless this fundamental is addressed – decent wages,” he told the Sydney gathering.

Public service union organiser Sam McCrone said staff across the nation had shown up and were willing to fight after management applied for a hearing in the Fair Work Commission.

“If that change of venue doesn’t come with a change of attitude from management, this fight will continue,” he said.

ABC managing director Hugh Marks defended the last rejected pay offer – 10 per cent across three years – as financially responsible and competitive for the industry.

Unions and workers across many sectors were showing an increasing willingness to take industrial action, Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer partner Rohan Doyle said.

“Workers are understandably pushing for pay increases that keep pace with inflation … but at the same time many employers are under pressure,” the enterprise bargaining and industrial disputes expert said.

With both sides of the bargaining table being squeezed, Doyle expected strikes to become more prevalent unless productivity gains could be found.

“There’s no simple fix,” he said.

The industrial action is the broadcaster’s first major strike since 2006.

More than 4400 people work at the ABC, including 2000 in news, the largest division.

Communications Minister Anika Wells has signalled she won’t intervene to end the dispute.

-AAP