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Journalists at Nine Entertainment plan to strike during the Paris Olympics over a pay dispute.
The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA) members at Nine Publishing voted in favour to go on strike from 11am Friday to Wednesday if the company is unable to reach a deal on a new enterprise bargaining agreement.
A meeting between the union and management is reported to be scheduled today to discuss the latest 2.5% wage rise offer.
The union says the action follows the company’s refusal to deliver a better than CPI increase, diversity pay audit and quotas, protection against the use of AI and adherence to the MEAA freelance charter of rights.
This comes against the background of job cuts at Nine, multi-million dollar pay outs to misbehaving senior executives, and the purchase of the broadcast rights to the Olympics for a reported $100 million.
Journalists at the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and WAtoday voted to stop work for five days, including the opening weekend of the Paris Olympic Games.
Nine, with rights to TV, streaming, audio and digital at the the Olympic and Paralympic Games, says it has written $135 million of advertising revenue.
The media group is taking 123 staff to Paris to cover broadcast production, for 5000 hours of programming.
“The company’s pay offer fails to acknowledge cost of living pressures and management has not dealt with other claims from journalists including a genuine commitment to better workplace gender and cultural diversity, improvements to grade progression and protection through consultation in relation to AI," the union said.
“These mastheads are strong financial performers, and have a reputation for award-winning journalism, and Nine needs to invest in its editorial front line ahead of its financial bottom line.
“The decision to go on strike was not made lightly as an event like the Olympics only comes along once every four years.
“Members regret the disruption the industrial action may cause. We urge management of Nine Publishing to resolve the issues in the bargaining meeting on Wednesday.”
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