Nine’s journos take to Twitter to demand a ‘fair share’ from their employer in EBA negotiations
Journalists at Nine’s masthead titles have taken to Twitter to demand a better deal in their fight for increased pay, voicing displeasure as negotiations continue, while one journalist at The Age has quit citing the reasons for industrial action being “in part behind it”
Members of the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) across the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times, and WA Today are after fair pay increases, career progression and minimums for freelancers, using the hashtag #FairShareNine on the social media platform.
#MEAAmedia Members at @smh, @theage, @FinancialReview, @brisbanetimes and @WAtoday want a fair deal and respect so they can continue to deliver high quality public interest journalism to readers.#FairShareNine pic.twitter.com/s7c6qu3j7w
— MEAA (@withMEAA) August 30, 2022
Last week, after posting a 53% jump in EBITDA on FY2021 in its publishing division, CEO Mike Sneesby told Mumbrella the company needs to think about the entirety of its 5000 person strong staffing, rather than just those in one division.
“I think you’ll see in our actions as a company and in the way that we think and talk about the team, we’re very much focused on ensuring that we look after our staff and we do the right thing by our staff because they’re the people who are delivering these results.”
Sunday reporter at The Age, Chloe Booker also announced in a tweet that she is leaving the publication. She said “while my decision is multifaceted, the reasons for our industrial action are in part behind it”.
Today seems like a good day to announce I’m leaving @theage. While my decision is multifaceted, the reasons for our industrial action are in part behind it. We want better guaranteed career progression for young journos, freelance mins, payrise closer to inflation #FairShareNine https://t.co/71J4LrAvEn
— Chloe Booker 📚 (@chloebooker) August 31, 2022
Since being posted at 9.19AM on 31 August, the tweet has been retweeted over 92 times, many of which by journalists across its titles.
The MEAA called Nine’s publishing profits, which included EBITDA of $180 million a “slap in the face” for journalists at Nine’s metro titles.
Nine declined to comment at this stage.
Nine Publishing’s earnings were up 53 per cent last financial year, thanks in no small part to the hard work of its journalists: You can’t announce record profits one day and deny staff a fair pay rise the next #FairShareNine https://t.co/5v35DdNsCz
— Michael Koziol (@michaelkoziol) August 30, 2022
Nine Publishing’s journalists accepted a 0% pay rise during the first year of the pandemic on good faith while the company paid dividends to its investors. Publishing is thriving, we now say #FairShareNine https://t.co/FBZksZhb7I
— Sarah Danckert (@sdanck) August 30, 2022
Today journalists from across Nine mastheads are calling on management to come to the table with a better wage offer after mega profits announced last week. #fairsharenine https://t.co/M74sDGkOLK
— Rachael Dexter (@rachael_dexter) August 30, 2022
It is understood that at this point, those involved in the action continue to work as usual.
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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