Nine boss Mike Sneesby grilled over hotel stay as Nine journalists walk off the job over pay dispute
The embattled boss gave an awkward smile as he was asked “are you here for work or are you here on a holiday with your family”.
Nine chief executive officer Mike Sneesby has refused to answer questions about his journalists walking off job over pay disputes.
Mr Sneesby was grilled over the strike as he entered a hotel in Paris on Friday after journalists from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and Watoday went on strike over the dispute.
He appeared relaxed as he was approached by a 7News reporter who questioned him over the debacle.
“I don’t have time to chat,” he said.
“Pretty straight forward though, should you be staying in a boutique hotel when you’ve just sacked staff?” the reporter asked.
“Happy to have a chat at some stage guys,” Mr Sneesby replied.
“What about today? Because your staff are going on strike today, why don’t you just stop and have a chat to us now?”
“Because I’m meeting my family,” he replied.
“You’re a boss of a media business are you here for work or are you here on a holiday with your family.”
He did not appear to answer the question.
The awkward clip comes as staff walked off the job at 11am over a pay dispute.
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance union members from Nine’s publishing division have demanded a 20 per cent pay rise over three years; however, Nine reportedly offered a raise of 10.5 per cent, nearly half the staff’s demand.
The Age state political reporter Broede Carmody said journalists called on chief executive Mike Sneesby and all other executives to forgo their bonuses from the last two financial years and instead reinvest them back into the company.
“Mike Sneesby wants to talk about a sustainable business, let’s talk about sustainable business,” Carmody said outside Nine’s Docklands office in Melbourne on Friday morning.
“How many jobs could have been saved if this company didn’t fly TV people who are unrelated to the Olympics to Paris and put them up in luxury hotels that cost $1000 a night?” he said.
Carmody also criticised a reported million-dollar handshake given to former news boss Darren Wick despite sexual harassment allegations against him.
An external review was announced into allegations Wick harassed up to a dozen women at the media giant.
NewsWire has contacted Nine for comment.
The “pain will really start to set in” as hundreds of staff members across the country walk off the job, Carmody added.
“For Mike Sneesby to claim today that the coverage will go on and the papers will look great — well, I’m sorry, how will the paper look great for five days with 500 people walking out the door?” he questioned.
“It just doesn’t make sense.”
Carmody said journalists would not rule out taking further action if Nine failed to “come to the table with a fair offer”.
“All the company will offer us this financial year is below inflation. We are struggling during the cost-of-living crisis and we need that money now,” he said.
Other employees said Thursday’s strike action would be their fifth strike during their time with Nine.
Nine said in a statement the company “recognises the rights of unions to take industrial action but believe that a return to the negotiating table is the best way to progress the EBA”.
“With our new and improved proposal representing a fair and reasonable offer for our people, we remain open to resuming good faith negotiations at the earliest opportunity,” the statement read.
MEAA Deputy chief executive Adam Portelli acknowledged the “incredibly difficult decision” employees have made as they act in the interest of “quality journalism”.
With half the content produced by The Age and other Nine papers contributed by freelance journalists and staff, Mr Portelli said all staff must be treated equally, including the staff “outside the building”.
Mr Portelli said Nine had repeatedly declined staff member’s requests for more diversity within the newsroom.
“We’ve said to the company ‘we want diversity in our newsrooms’, not just for us … but for those communities and so that we can tell more stories to more people,” he said.
“They company has said no.”
Mr Portelli said Nine has shown its employees a “complete lack of respect” throughout the negotiation process.
“We have sought a cost of living increase while Mike Sneesby has been sunning it up in Paris,” he said.
“We just need to acknowledge the failing of your boss, the failing of Channel 9 throughout this process.
“They have consistently taken the view, taken the side of the shareholders and it’s time for them to take the view of their front line.”
Australian Council of Trade Unions President Michelle O’Neil said Nine is taking its employees “for a ride” while speaking outside the Melbourne office on Friday morning.
“This is the same company that thinks it’s okay to have their chief executive in Paris running with the torch when he received last year $2.69 million dollars in his CEO pay,” she said.
“You can afford what these workers are asking for. Just in the first six months of this year we saw Nine entertainment see a $77 million profit.
“These workers aren’t asking for a lot, they’re actually asking for respect and that’s what a fair pay increase is.”
Ms O’Neil said the negotiations and action is a “struggle about basic rights”.
“It’s about the cost of living crisis, acknowledging that workers need to have enough in their pay packets to be able to be what has been really high costs that they have been struggling with,” she said.
Olympics reporters ‘not exempt’ from strikes
Carmody said Nine staff covering the Olympics in Paris were “not exempt” from strike action and were expected to “stand in solidarity”.
He told RN Breakfast on Friday morning that he was confident staff reporting on the Olympics in Paris would “stand in solidarity” with striking journalists in Australia.
“The overwhelming majority of people over in Paris right now are not exempt from strike action,” Carmody told Patricia Karvelas on ABC Radio.
“That is hard. It’s a work trip of a lifetime, but I’m sure they’ll stand in solidarity with us.
“We’re fighting for something that’s so much bigger, so much bigger than any one person.”
Nine boss lashes out at strikers
Mr Sneesby has lashed out at journalists who have chosen to walk off the job but has assured Nine’s Olympic coverage won’t be affected by the strike.
In an email sent to staff on Friday morning, Mr Sneesby said he was “profoundly disappointed” by the industrial action at the company.
“It goes without saying we’re profoundly disappointed by this decision as we have offered a new and improved agreement yesterday and were negotiating in good faith to a constructive outcome,” the email, seen by NewsWire, read.
“While we recognise the right of unions to take industrial action, Tory (managing director Tory Maguire) and I firmly believe a return to the negotiating table is the best pathway to progressing the EBA.”
The action has “regrettably” come the night before the 2024 Paris Olympics are set to kick off, with the media giant having paid a staggering $305m for the exclusive rights for the next five Olympic Games, including Paris 2024 and Brisbane 2032.
Despite the strike, Mr Sneesby remains “confident” the coverage will be “comprehensive” and “world class”.
“We have invested significantly to bring unrivalled coverage of the 2024 Games to our valued audiences through Nine’s world-leading journalism,” he wrote.
“While we have endeavoured to avert the industrial action, we have been preparing for the prospect of prolonged industrial action.
“We are well positioned to ensure our mastheads are produced and distributed for our loyal readers. Our editorial teams will seamlessly deliver the best coverage for our audiences, so they have the news they want, when they want it and as it happens in Paris.”
Mr Sneesby added he was committed to “continuing to work in good faith with the MEAA and bargaining committees to deliver a new agreement that is fair and supports a sustainable future for the publishing business”.
Mr Sneesby reportedly left staff outraged after footage emerged of him carrying the Olympic torch and wandering around France.
Staff members sported T-shirts of Mr Sneesby holding the Olympic torch accompanied by the words “don’t torch journalism”.
Rallies will be held outside Nine Publishing offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth on Friday morning, with MEAA acting director Michelle Rae saying Nine’s latest offer still fails to include a fair pay rise given cost of living pressures.
“Journalists at Nine Publishing are taking a stand for newsrooms that reflect the diversity of the communities they are reporting for, for ethical and transparent use of Artificial Intelligence, and for better wages,” she said.
“Journalists are asking for a modest pay rise in line with CPI; nothing more and nothing less. Nine needs to put its editorial frontline ahead of its shareholder bottom line.
“MEAA members’ message to Nine CEO Mike Sneesby is don’t torch journalism.”
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