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SYDNEY - JOURNALISTS working for Australia's second largest press group - Fairfax Media - on Thursday launched a four-day day strike to protest at plans to axe 550 jobs, staff and their union said.
Journalists at the company, which publishes the flagship Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, walked out two days after bosses said they were slashing five per cent of the workforce to save A$50 million (S$60.8 million).
'This was a motion that arose spontaneously from the floor of the meeting because people are angry at the way the company has treated them, both in terms of Enterprise Agreement negotiations and also the redundancy announcements,' said senior Age journalist Michael Bachelard.
'Age staff are passionate about their masthead and their readers, and are disappointed that the managers of the company appear willing to sacrifice quality journalism for the sake of the bottom line.'
Mr Bachelard said journalists at the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age in Melbourne and their respective Sunday editions, the Sun-Herald and Sunday Age, made the decision to strike until Monday independently.
Fairfax Media management refused to comment on the strike but stressed that its daily papers would appear as usual on Friday.
Australia's main media union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA), said the 550 job cuts - which are believed to include 180 journalists' positions - would have an impact on quality journalism.
MEAA spokesman Mike Dobbie said Fairfax staff feared journalism standards would fall prey to cost-cutting.
'It's not good for the paper, not good for the journalists and not good for the communities they serve,' he said.
'People are worried about their futures and if they are going to have a job in a few weeks time,' he said, adding that management had not yet met with staff.
'They wanted to signal to management they want to be involved and negotiated with and consulted by the company as to what plans management has for Fairfax Media rather than be treated dismissively and communicated to by email.'
Fairfax began the lay-offs on Wednesday by sacking the controversial editor-in-chief of The Age, Andrew Jaspan.
Fairfax last week announced a 46.8 per cent jump in net profit to US$386.9 million for 2007-08 on the back of a strong performance from its online businesses. -- AFP
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