Nine publishing staff accept improved wage deal following five-day strike
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The news: Unionised publishing staff at Nine Entertainment have accepted a sweetened wage deal, bringing to an end months of protracted negotiations over pay and conditions that last week resulted in historic strike action.
The numbers: The offer will see Nine publishing staff receive a three-year deal including pay rises of 4% in the first year, 3.75% in the second, and 3.75% in the third, and was voted on by publishing staff nationally in meetings on Wednesday afternoon.
The context: Journalists from across Nine’s publishing business, which houses The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the Australian Financial Review, voted in favour of the improved offer on Wednesday afternoon, following a round of negotiations with Nine management that morning.
The agreement follows months of stalled negotiations over pay rises, commitments to diversity, and protections against artificial intelligence that collapsed last week, amid growing frustration among publishing staff over a wave of 200 job cuts. Up to 90 of those will come from Nine’s newspaper business.
As a result, Nine publishing staff walked off the job for five days for the first time in seven years last Friday, timed to coincide with the opening weekend of the Paris Olympics, the first instalment of Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby’s biggest strategic bet since taking the job in 2021.
The strike action hamstrung the company’s coverage of the Paris Olympics, where staff travelling to cover the games also downed tools, and on Monday derailed the company’s plans to host government ministers and regulators at a summit in Canberra.
Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby drew fierce criticism from staff last week after he was pictured carrying the Olympic torch in Paris as newspaper staff were preparing to strike. He was also the target of organised action at Sydney international airport Tuesday evening, however he did not appear.
