“We’re fighting for something that’s so much bigger, so much bigger than any one person.”; Nine workers on five-day strike.
Written by: Ashley C. on 27 July 2024
On Friday 26 July, unionised journalists and media workers at Nine newspapers (The Age, Sydney Morning Herald, Australian Financial Review, WAtoday and Brisbane Times) walked off the job and marked the beginning of a five-day strike.
The strike comes after protected action was voted up by 90% of union members following a breakdown in negotiations with management for their next enterprise agreement. Under the banner of their union, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), workers are fighting for salary increases that keep up with inflation and job protections as Nine seeks to cut production costs following the recent termination of an advertising revenue agreement with parasitic US behemoth Meta (Facebook).
While internal strife has been building for months at Nine, the workers have taken advantage of their legal right to strike during the enterprise agreement bargaining period (at any other time, workers and their unions would be immediately crushed by fines and injunctions as employers are legally protected from industrial action).
In June, union members were prepared to take action following Nine’s June announcement that 200 redundancies would occur due to the expiry of a commercial agreement with Meta. Australian news outlets bargain for deals with foreign companies like Meta for an agreed share of profits generated through advertising revenue in accordance with the News Media Bargaining Code that the Australian government introduced in 2021.
In response to the June redundancies, the house committee of union members at Nine passed a motion of no confidence in Nine chief executive Mike Sneesby and the Nine Entertainment Company board, “due to a lack of progress in the current enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations and because of the job cuts that have been announced.” Union members stated that that “We consider the announcement of the job cuts during negotiations particularly poor and question whether the unionised part of the workforce at Nine has particularly been targeted.”
These journalists are generally tasked with producing Nine’s shameless propaganda for the Australian capitalist class, such as the disgraceful and treacherous ‘Building Bad’ series of articles against the CFMEU and union militancy. On any day of the week, Australians can open the Age or the AFR and read about how increases to wages are supposedly the cause of the ‘cost of living’ crisis, or about the apparent benefits of US imperialism for Australia and the world.
Capital at work, workers out of work
It is ironic that these workers who work for the mouthpieces of capital are now taking industrial action as a result of Nine’s attack on their wages, jobs and conditions. Along with its function to strengthen the bourgeoisie’s ideological superstructure, the media is economically fused with the advertising industry and Nine’s business model is to produce and publish as cheaply as possible whatever brings in the most advertising revenue. To increase profit from advertising, Nine enters into deals with US companies like Meta. US capital is running the show, and workers are left to pay the price when the deals made by their comprador employers are no longer profitable. When Mike Sneesby announced the job cuts to Nine staff in June, he didn’t mince his words: “Today we will announce measures in our Publishing business to offset the loss of revenue from the Meta deal and challenges in the advertising market”.
When journalists walked off the job on Friday, they marched together in fury against their bosses. In Melbourne, the workers formed a picket at the entrance of their office at Docklands, supported by officials from their union, the MEAA, along with representatives of the RTBU and United Workers Union. Walking off the job together is the bravest action that workers can do, and they were met with cheers by their union as they left the glass doors of Nine’s office. Management had locked the workers out of their computer access immediately as the 11am strike began.
A union member was interviewed on ABC radio earlier in the morning and expressed how significant the action of striking felt to Nine workers, declaring that “We’re fighting for something that’s so much bigger, so much bigger than any one person.”
The MEAA presented the workers’ struggle as part of a noble cause for quality journalism. The slogan “Don’t Torch Journalism” was printed on placards and T-shirts as a reference to Mike Sneesby running with the Olympic torch in Paris and the strategic timing of the strike at the beginning of the Olympics. On the picket line at the Nine office in Melbourne, MEAA Deputy Chief Executive Adam Portelli presented the issue as a matter of Nine’s lack of respect for its hard-working journalists.
The Australian media industry is tethered to US imperialism as local monopolists cut deals for advertising revenue with foreign companies. When foreign capital pulls out, local employers cut costs and offset the losses onto their workers. This is like any other industry in Australia. This is Australian capitalism. It is right for workers in all industries to rebel against those who sell them out and attack their conditions. Calls for respect will only go so far as the effects of Meta’s withdrawal are passed onto media workers.
Solidarity message
At the Nine Melbourne picket, a worker read out a message of solidarity received from union members at the ABC, demonstrating the shared struggle across the industry. In June, the house committee of unionised workers at ABC also passed a motion of solidarity to Nine and Seven workers immediately affected by the withdrawal of US capital from their employers:
The ABC MEAA House Committee expresses its solidarity with Nine and Seven members facing an uncertain future after both companies announced hundreds of staff cuts.
This comes in the wake of Meta pulling its funding of news in Australia and declines in advertising revenue.
News organisations right across Australia have already been cut to bone. These latest losses are not only devastating for the employees impacted, but to the principle of a healthy media scene.
We also acknowledge ABC staff in jobs funded by deals with Meta and Google, who themselves are concerned for their future when their contracts expire later this year. We call on ABC management to provide security and surety for those employees.
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