Journalists from Nine Publishing reach 11.5 per cent pay deal following 5-day strike

Nine journalists have accepted a three-year 11.5 per cent pay deal in-line with inflation, following a five-day strike where staff walked out of newsrooms.

Journalists from Nine Publishing have accepted an improved pay deal of 11.5 per cent over three years following a nationwide five day strike.

The new offer will see staff receive a 4 per cent salary increase in the first year, with a bump of 3.75 per cent in the second and third year.

The deal is also 1 per cent higher than a deal of 10 per cent over three years which was rejected by journalists last week as it did not compete with inflation figures which sat a 3.6 per cent in the March quarter.

The deal, which was accepted by staff from Nine’s Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth news rooms, as well as employees deployed to Paris to cover the Olympics on Wednesday afternoon.

Nine Staff walked off the job at their head office in North Sydney to strike over pay concerns and redundancies. Picture: NewsWire/ Simon Bullard.

The agreement follows a large-scale strike from staff backed by the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) at the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, WAtoday and The Brisbane Times, which concluded at 11am on Wednesday.

The last time staff at the masthead downed tools and walked off the job was in 2017, prior to the Nine and Fairfax merger.

MEAA director Michelle Rae said Nine management had also agreed to the ethical use of Artificial Intelligence, a commitment to report on diversity in the workplace, and would continue to negotiate a fair deal for freelancers.

“Our members should be very proud that their solidarity with each other and their commitment to their role of public interest journalism has produced this outcome,” Ms Rae said.

“In an historic first, staff and freelancers stood side-by-side so that no-one was left behind.”

However she said it was “disappointing” staff had to resort to a strike before management heeded their demands.

“This could have been avoided if Nine’s managers had listened to the concerns raised by union representatives over many meetings,” she said.

“Instead, the company’s earlier failure to resolve the enterprise bargaining agreement and its announcement of up to 90 job cuts has caused reputational damage to Nine.”

The offer will now be subjected to a formal vote before it requires further approval from the Fair Work Commission.

Originally published as Journalists from Nine Publishing reach 11.5 per cent pay deal following 5-day strike