ALLIANCE RALLIES TO SAVE FAIRFAX

Date: 31 August 2000

Sydney staff vote to begin campaign.

Journalists, artists and photographers employed at these Fairfax-owned newspapers are striking to protect the quality and integrity of your newspapers and to oppose a real wage cut the company is seeking to impose on employees.

THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
THE AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW
THE AGE
THE NEWCASTLE HERALD
BRW MAGAZINE
THE ILLAWARRA MERCURY
THE SUN-HERALD
and FAIRFAX ONLINE.

1200 journalists, members of the MEAA, commenced a national 24-hour strike today. The campaign will continue through rolling stoppages, bans and limitations. Journalists are holding a rally today outside the Sydney headquarters of the Fairfax newspaper group at 201 Sussex Street.

For three years we have stood by while resources for journalists, artists and photographers have been whittled away by a Board of Directors who have one goal - boosting the Fairfax share price by cutting costs. This process is now to include the base pay of editorial staff.

Staff strive to produce quality journalism over the long term for newspaper readers. We believe this aim is being undermined by relentless cost﷓cutting and it has to stop now.

Fairfax is an immensely profitable publisher. Its profits after tax were up 53.2% in the half-year ending 31 December 1999. Its papers have never been more profitable. But increasingly this has been achieved at the expense of the company's core function - reporting and analysis of the news of the day
Three years of driving up the Fairfax share price combined with expensive experiments in Internet based commerce have been funded by draining resources from the company's newspapers.
We believe the company is in danger of failing its readers. Fairfax journalists, artists and photographers can no longer tolerate quality journalism being sacrificed for the benefit of shareholders.

Management has offered base pay rises less than CPI in enterprise bargaining talks. It has offered a 1.5 per cent base pay rise this year in lieu of a CPI-based increase, with base pay increases of just 2 per cent a year in 2001 and 2002.

Fairfax wants to scrap an existing profit share deal with editorial staff which saw part of the profit share paid into employees' base wages. The new deal would see the profit share paid as a lump sum annual bonus, from a smaller pool. Management is willing to guarantee a profit share increase of just 1.8 in 2001 and 2002.

For further information

Contact:	Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance
Union:	MEAA
Phone:	1300 656512
Fax:	02 9333 0933
Email:	pross@meaa.aust.com
WWW:	http://www.alliance.org.au

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