Publishing staff across Nine Entertainment have voted to apply for protected industrial action, and passed a unanimous vote of no confidence in chief executive Mike Sneesby and the Nine board.
The vote followed news up to 200 jobs -4% of company staff- would be axed.
Up to 90 jobs were expected to be lost from the Publishing division and 38 from TV News & Current Affairs.
Members of the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, mostly editorial staff at The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian Financial Review, The Brisbane Times and WA Today, met yesterday.
“We express our dismay that senior editors appear to have been kept in the dark until the last moment about the planned job cuts, despite the end of Meta funding being known for months,” a union note said.
The Age reports the cuts are part of a bid to find more than $30 million in savings across the business and follow Meta’s decision not to renew deals under the News Media Bargaining Code.
CEO Mike Sneesby yesterday told staff, “From our nationwide team of almost 5000 people, around 200 jobs are expected to be affected across Nine including some vacant and casual roles not being filled. Where possible, we will look for opportunities to redeploy our team members who are impacted and we will support them throughout the process. These are tough decisions and I acknowledge it will be an uncertain period for some of you.”
The announcement follows around 150 positions to be cut from Seven West Media and cuts at News Corp.
“That these cuts are partly the result of Meta walking away from funding deals under the News Media Bargaining Code makes them even harder to swallow, said MEAA’s Media Acting Director Michelle Rae.
“Meta rakes in billions of dollars off the back of news content produced by Australian journalism. The funding deals under the News Media Bargaining Code allowed Nine, Seven and News Corp to invest in journalism and increase coverage after years of decline.
“If Meta continues to refuse to negotiate new deals, then it must be designated by the federal government.”
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