Journalists employed by Nine Entertainment’s publishing division have voted overwhelmingly to strike over pay from Friday for five days, hampering the company’s coverage of the Paris Olympic Games.
Nine is the official broadcaster of the 2024 games, paying $100m for the broadcast rights for this year alone.
The stop work action starts at 11am on Friday and includes all newspaper staff covering the games in Paris, but not television. Nine sent about 200 people to Paris to cover the games across all platforms.
Editorial staff from the Age, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian Financial Review, the Brisbane Times and WAtoday took a national vote and rejected a last-minute offer from management.
The national vote came after what have been described by attenders as “heated” newsroom meetings in Melbourne and Sydney which were addressed by the managing director of publishing, Tory Maguire.
Despite an improved offer from Maguire, who had originally offered a 2.5% pay rise in the first year, staff said the deal was not acceptable.
The offer of 3.5% in the first year, 4% in the second year and 3% in the third year was rejected on the basis it did not keep ahead of the cost of living.
The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said rallies were planned outside Nine’s offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth at the same time as members walk off the job.
“Journalists at Nine Publishing are being asked to do more for less,” the acting director of the media section of the MEAA, Michelle Rae, said.
“They are taking a stand for newsrooms that reflect the diversity of the communities they are reporting for, for ethical and transparent use of artificial intelligence, and for better wages.”
Sources said some Nine staff in Paris were upset about the strike action and had pleaded with organisers not to proceed.
The industrial action comes three weeks after Nine Entertainment’s chief executive, Mike Sneesby, told staff the company was cutting 200 jobs due to the “economic headwinds” facing the media sector. About 90 positions on the legacy mastheads were to be axed.
Sneesby has said cuts are necessary due to an advertising downturn and a decision by Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – not to enter new multimillion-dollar deals for content when contracts expire this year.
Staff are also angry about Sneesby’s decision to carry the Olympic torch in Paris while staff were facing job cuts and negotiating an EBA.
A spokesperson for Nine said Nine’s newspapers would not be affected and neither would the Olympics coverage.
“While it is disappointing the union has elected to proceed with industrial action, we can confirm comprehensive plans are in place to ensure the production and distribution of Nine Publishing mastheads will not be impacted and our readers will continue to have access to unrivalled coverage of the Paris Olympics,” a spokesperson said.
“Nine recognises the rights of unions to take industrial action but believe that a return to the negotiating table is the best way to progress the EBA. With our new and improved proposal representing a fair and reasonable offer for our people, we remain open to resuming good faith negotiations at the earliest opportunity.”
Nine Entertainment paid $305m for the exclusive rights to the next five Olympic Games, from Paris in 2024 to Brisbane in 2032.
