Newspoll workers to protest sacking, asking for fair redundancy packages and references
Around 100 Newspoll workers are expected to protest their sacking this afternoon in an attempt to secure fair redundancy packages for more staff and reference letters.
News Corp Australia are set to close the polling arm next month in a move that will end decades of live fortnightly telephone polling, although staff say they only learnt of the closure through an article published by The Australian.
National Union of Workers organiser Jafar Kazim said the staff are looking to gain some “respect” from News Corp, describing the sacking as a “real tragedy”.
“We have 130 good union jobs, we have excellent pay, excellent conditions and these jobs are now going to be done by computers, it’s a real tragedy,” he told Mumbrella.
Kazim said today’s protest was aimed at securing the Newspoll employees a “fairer” redundancy payout and written references. The union is also demanding a correction on the number of job losses printed in The Australian,
“Of the 130 staff that we believe should have entitlement they are paying out 10-15 of them,” he explained.
“They want them to print a correction in The Australian. When they leaked that article it said 26 people were losing their jobs, the number is closer to 150,” continued Kazim.
“And they want the company to give them a reference letter, some of them have worked there for 10-15 years which is a good chunk of their lives and the company is refusing to give them a reference.”
The Newspoll brand will continue in name only, with the surveys to be conducted by Galaxy Research, which already handles polls for the News Corp tabloids. However, Galaxy will not conduct live telephone interviews, instead using automation to poll users, as well as online surveys.
The automated polling, known as robopolls, uses computers to make calls automatically with participants responding to recorded messages using the keypad on their phone.
News Corp declined to comment on the industrial action.
Miranda Ward
Linkedin
News Ltd huh…
wow, sad times for those losing jobs across the company.
I wonder what will happen when Rupert drops off the tree?
No one carries his power, his products no longer have the power they used to, I can see the OZ going not long after he does.
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will anyone agree to waste time listening to automated surveys & polls?
is this really an effective way of meauring opinion?
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@ offal : Good question ………..Many years ago Rupert said to me and a bunch of others in a meeting ” as long as I have a dollar Australia will have a national newspaper” He didn’t say “as long as I have a heartbeat”
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Chris Mitchell, whose Oz loses money in buckets full, gets to kill Newspoll. One is a crap rag with virtually no readers. The other was the most reliable poll in the country. Go figure.
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Some credit should go to Rupert for starting The Australian and keeping it going. However it is disappointing it lacks the quality it should contain given the vast amount of money News Corp. invests in the paper. Removing the quality from News Poll is just one more reason not the read The Australian. It is all very strange when it would not be hard to put the missing quality into the content and turn The Australian into a profit centre for Rupert and his share holders.
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For those of us who value our privacy and consider our homes a sacred space, often obtained at great personal sacrifice, I say “good riddance” to those who intermittently ‘broke’ into my home in an unsolicited manner, for personal gain. I just wish I, and the 1000s of other poor souls they have annoyed, could return the favour. Parasites who attached themselves to peoples’ personal time. Perhaps they can spend their remaining time on the planet not actively invading peoples’ personal space? Most likely they’ll move on to debt collection, where their skills will fit right in.
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