‘Left them with no choice’: Nine journalists set to take industrial action against network
Nine Publishing journalists are set to take industrial action next week as the media giant continues to make 200 job cuts.
According to the the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), more than 90% of union members who took part in a vote were in favour of “protected action including an indefinite strike” in pursuit of a “fair deal in a new enterprise bargaining agreement”.
In a statement, the MEAA said that it notified Nine Publishing about the vote results on Friday afternoon, and that action would be taken by journalists at the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and WAtoday, some of which are assigned to cover the Olympics in Paris starting next week.
It’s expected that they will take to social media and call for public support, while more action will be considered next week.
Acting director of MEAA Media, Michelle Rae, said members were prepared to walk off the job if management did not put a “serious offer on the table”.
It comes after MEAA members at Nine Publishing passed a vote of no confidence in CEO Mike Sneesby just weeks ago.
“Members’ anger is white hot that the job cuts will fall disproportionately upon the publishing division, which is profitable and productive,” Rae said.
“These mastheads are strong financial performers, and have a reputation for award-winning journalism, and Nine needs to put its editorial front line ahead of its financial bottom line.
“Australian Olympic athletes have the chance to stand on top of the podium once every four years, but editorial workers at Nine are delivering gold every day with quality public interest journalism.
“MEAA members are also angry at a lack of acknowledgement of the role that the independent reporting of the publishing division has played in upholding the reputation of the company’s news division.
“They don’t want to take industrial action but management’s intransigence has left them with no choice.”
In a note to staff regarding the job cuts late last month, managing director of Nine Publishing, Tory Maguire, said: “We are looking at reducing the publishing division headcount by between 70 and 90 staff over coming months.”
Since then, senior staffers at youth-focused publications, Vice Australia, Lifehacker Australia, Refinery29, Kotaku, and Gizmodo Australia all confirmed that the publications will be closing local operations and that their entire staff have been made redundant as part of the restructuring of Pedestrian Group, which included the departure of CEO Matt Rowley.
Mumbrella has contacted Nine for comment.
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Neil Griffiths is the Managing Editor of Mumbrella. He joined the company in October 2023.
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The tough reality is journalism has not been paying for some time as it has a) attracted less audiences and b) increasingly become easier to publish without editorial endorsement.
We can debate the merits of whether or not those things are good things – but the brutal truth is a lot of the profession is not commercially viable nor audience viable anymore.
If these journalists are so damn good, there is literally nothing stopping them from starting a paid Substack (maybe together)!
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