Freelance journalists given power to negotiate better contracts
The ACCC has awarded freelance journalists greater bargaining power by allowing the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance to collectively negotiate the terms of their contracts with certain publishers on their behalf.
The Media Alliance is now looking to negotiate terms for freelance journalists with News Limited, Fairfax Media, ACP Magazines and Pacific Magazines in areas such as pay levels, copyright, moral rights and the freedom to contract with other media organisations.
The federal secretary of the Media Alliance, Christopher Warren, said: “This announcement will enable freelance journalists to work together, through the Media Alliance, to win better working conditions. In recent years some publishers have sought to impose unfair and restrictive contracts on individual freelancers.”
On announcing the ruling, ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) chairman Graeme Samuels, said: “The ACCC considers the proposed collective bargaining arrangements may increase the bargaining power of freelance journalists when negotiating with each of the targets which provides the opportunity for greater input into contract terms.”
Tim Burrowes founded Mumbrella in 2008. He worked on Mumbrella until 2021. At various points he was editor, content director and editor-at-large.
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It’s a step in the right direction for professional journalists, particularly on rights and restrictions (I’m astounded some publishers think 50c/word or less is reasonable pay for universal rights and exclusivity!).
If you want churnalism, pay scab rates. If you want quality, treat your freelancers with respect.
Just as importantly, freelancers who want to make a living need to respect their peers and not work for bad rates and bad conditions.
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Sounds loike a retoirn of Workchoices.
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Are media houses REALLY prepared to pay freelancers what they’re worth? As one myself I’m often asked to do features that involve week’s sometimes month’s of work. When the commissioning editor’s told that it will cost $X they always pipe up and say, “Oh no, we don’t ever pay that.” They then simply lift something from an overseas magazine or newspaper – cheaply – and sub it to fool the audience it was locally produced. Oh – and you’ve got all these plummeting circulations? Go figure! Yes, mediocrity is cheap to produce!
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>”The ACCC considers the proposed collective bargaining arrangements may increase the bargaining power of freelance journalists”
I’d suggest it greatly increases the employment opportunities for non-unionised and less-experienced journalists.
This will likely be great news for the myriads of graduate journalists for whose employment prospects we were issuing dire forecasts a few weeks ago.
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