The Age and SMH staff to strike after pay offer rejected

The majority of staff across Nine’s publishing titles, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, will walk off the job on Friday after last-minute crisis talks, and an improved pay offer was rejected on Thursday evening.

Publishing boss Tory Maguire flew to Melbourne to address staff on Thursday morning, three days after union members – the majority of staff – overwhelmingly voted for a five-day strike from 11am on Friday. Staff will strike for the first time since 2017.

Staff from Nine’s newspapers will walk off the job on Friday after a pay deal could not be agreed.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

Maguire and Publishing HR boss Michael Trafford spoke to Melbourne-based staff from The Age and The Australian Financial Review before returning to Sydney to address staff from newsrooms at The Sydney Morning Herald, WAtoday, Brisbane Times and the AFR.

While the strike relates directly to the pay dispute, tensions were raised this week after further details of a recently announced redundancy round were shared by executive editor Luke McIlveen.

Now, staff in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth, and those in Paris covering the Olympics, will stop work on Friday, potentially affecting the mastheads’ coverage of the Games and the opening ceremony.

Maguire took questions from the newsrooms after she and her team tabled an improved pay offer late on Wednesday evening following an hours-long meeting with union representatives, with approval from Nine’s chief executive, Mike Sneesby, who is currently in Paris.

Nine’s previous offer of a yearly 2.5 per cent increase over three years was improved to a 3.5/4/3 per cent split across the three-year deal. Maguire said the offer was “as close to [the rate of inflation] as I could”. The Consumer Price Index was 3.6 per cent as of March this year, rising 1 per cent across the quarter.

Recently, News Corp Australia staff agreed to a 3.5 per cent increase over 12 months amid the company’s own round of redundancies. Guardian Australia staff were handed an initial offer of a 4 per cent increase this week.

On Tuesday, McIlveen said 10 to 15 staff would be cut from both The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. He said six to eight staff would be cut from the shared national team, which houses federal politics, business, world and environmental journalists from both mastheads, as well as the Premium content team [podcasts, visual stories] and the Life team [arts, culture, lifestyle and Traveller], each of these housing about 50 staff.

The Good Food team will reduce its headcount by one to two people, while the newsrooms in Brisbane and Perth will be cut by about four people in total. The Australian Financial Review will reduce its headcount by 10 to 15.

The company opened applications for voluntary redundancies this week.

Images of chief executive Mike Sneesby carrying the Olympic torch in Paris this week heightened staff frustrations amid the cuts. It was also reported that Scott Cam, host of Nine’s The Block, has been flown to France to promote the new season of the show, which was questioned by staff during the meeting amid efforts to cut costs across the company.

Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby carries the Olympic torch.Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola

Several staff at The Age called the cuts a “bloodbath”, while Maguire insisted a higher pay offer, particularly in the first year, would lead to deeper cuts. She said plans to remove up to 90 roles from across the entire publishing business were already a compromise.

It would take time and effort to restore morale across the newsrooms, she said, in a meeting at which she was asked if she would reject any bonus awarded to her by Nine’s board.

While the pay offer was rejected, both sides reached agreement over several terms, including artificial intelligence consultation; new diversity, equity and inclusivity clauses; domestic violence leave; and improved parental leave, shifting from 16 week to 18 weeks. HR boss Trafford said the updated diversity clause in the proposed bargaining agreement was ahead of the mastheads’ competitors.

Michelle Rae, acting media director of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance, said the journalists had asked for a modest wage increase in line with the CPI after foregoing any pay rise during COVID and at a time when the company is making record profits

A Nine spokesperson said while it was disappointing the union had elected to proceed with industrial action, comprehensive plans were in place to ensure the production and distribution of Nine Publishing mastheads would not be impacted.

“Nine 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.”

Nine isn’t the only media company contracting its headcount amid prevailing advertising conditions and the loss of revenue from social media giant Meta. News Corp Australia has a round of rolling redundancies, with the national weekend political editor for its tabloids, James Campbell, a recent victim of the shift to a seven-day roster.

National health reporter Sue Dunlevy also confirmed her departure, as did 30-year company veteran, senior correspondent and former foreign correspondent Charles Miranda. Some of the redundancies were voluntary.

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