RealNewsOne Stands With & Supports MEAA Members – #FairGoFairfax

Fairfax editorial staff voted to take industrial action for seven days in meetings today. 

Fairfax announced that 25 per cent of its journalists would lose their jobs as part of $30 million in cost savings. MEAA says the decision means that 125 full-time equivalent positions will be lost.

In resolutions passed at today’s meetings, the editorial staff:

Have rejected the cuts proposed by the company and will not accept any forced redundancies. 

Members also want any voluntary rounds to be open for at least three weeks (as opposed to the company’s one week), and

They also want senior management to take a 25 per cent pay cut.

Murphy said: “None of the other parts of the Fairfax business are worth anything without the journalism and yet it is the journalism that Fairfax always cuts. The editorial staff are really angry. They think the company has made a terrible decision that is not in the best interests of the company, its audience or its staff.”

The public is being asked not to buy The Age while staff are on strike. 

The announcement was made while journalists celebrate World Press Freedom Day.