Editorial staff walk out on Fairfax

The words “restructuring” and “outsourcing” are sending shockwaves through editorial departments in the mainstream print media as both Fairfax and News Limited attempt to rejig operations for survival.

Fairfax staff at regional and metropolitan newspapers walked out last Wednesday evening for 36 hours, striking against the outsourcing of 66 production jobs at its regional newspapers, the Newcastle Herald and the Illawarra Mercury.

Hundreds turned out for a rally in support of the Newcastle Herald on Sunday and were joined by Labor, Liberal, Greens and Independent MPs who all called on Fairfax to reconsider its plans to outsource editorial jobs to New Zealand.

A spokesperson for Fairfax Media said the corporation was in a transitional phase from traditional print forms to digital media.

“While the proposed changes will necessarily have a substantial impact on our people, Fairfax Media is on a journey of change from a predominantly print business to a predominantly digital business.”

Chair of the union committee for Fairfax in Sydney, Markus Strom said the outcome of action would be realised after consultation with Fairfax this week.

“Consultation meetings were held earlier in the week with the company to discuss their proposal and we’re waiting on the outcome of this.”

Mr Strom said industrial action is important because of the increasingly profit-driven nature of the boardroom.

“I would worry that the company would implement changes to the newsroom that would benefit the company financially in the short term, and this could detract from long term interests of quality, independent journalism.”

But he was more optimistic about restructuring plans for Fairfax’s metropolitan newspapers.

“We’re going through the process of restructure and the editorial staff are being consulted.”

Such plans coincide with Gina Rinehart’s criticism of Chairman of the Fairfax Board, Roger Corbett.

“There are questions to be raised concerning the current chairmanship that has presided over both an approx 60 per cent loss in share market value and continuous loss of circulation of all its major mastheads, which in turn affects revenue,” she said.

Last October, News Limited overhauled its NSW community newspapers and centralised production operations, an effort that resulted from 18 months of consultations. News limited has yet to announce further details of its consolidation plans.

By Christopher Harris