More than 800 News Ltd staff demand larger pay rise
Amid ongoing salary negotiations between News Limited and the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance more than 800 staff at the publisher have signed a petition calling for the company to offer a larger payrise.
The union, which represents journalists are currently in negotiations for a 12 month rollover agreement, which would cover all community, regional and metropolitan daily editorial staff.
In recent round of negotiations News Limited offered an increase of 2.25 per cent rise in salary. The union responded by circulating a petition labelling the below consumer price index offer “pitiful”. This petition has now been signed by around 850 members of staff. News Limited has previously said it employs around 2400 journalists nationally.
MEAA secretary Chris Warren said in further negotiations today the company had increased the offer to 2.5 per cent.
“The rethink by the company is a clear acknowledgement that management recognises what its employees have been telling them via this petition: wages should not go backwards in real terms,” Warren said.
“Our members demand a realistic offer from the company that must take into account the very significant productivity gains the company has gained in recent years and is continuing to benefit from.”
“News Limited employees who deliver those productivity gains have seen their workload intensify on a massive scale due to redundancies across the board, the application of new technology and platforms, the transformation of newsrooms to digital, and the demands on staff to do even more with less. News Limited employees demand a genuine pay offer that respects them, their skills and the huge increase in their workloads,” he said.
News Limited declined to discuss the ongoing negotiations.
Nic Christensen
Why should the public side with News Ltd journalists for a pay rise, when the journalists especially Andrew Bolt are not interested in siding with facts only rumours especially attacking The PM?
User ID not verified.
Oh dear, just when Rupert is in town.
User ID not verified.
good luck negotiating with Rupert. The younger staff might wish to use teh interwebz to search for “wapping dispute”
User ID not verified.
Excuse me! When many in television are being retrenched and trying to get work, and have to work in lower paid positions to get by. Times are tough. Suck it up!
User ID not verified.
Yes, times are tough and Australian media producers (especially those with a significant print platform) are facing incredible economic changes, but the rhetoric has focused on the importance of content producers (sorry, journalists) as the creators who drive people to newspapers, websites, etc. All journalists also see the recruitment of new staff with high profiles, new investment around those personalities, and presume that recruitment delivers a high pay package. Given the generally low morale of the industry, it would appear prudent to deliver a reasonable pay hike to all in recognition of productivity, loyalty, and to show journalists that they are valued – especially if that is what they are being told.
User ID not verified.