Less than two weeks after it announced a company-wide cost slashing strategy, News Corp Australia has started canvassing the idea of voluntary redundancies to its staff, encouraging those interested to put their hands up before its redundancy programme begins.
Industry union Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) says it is aware News Corp management had begun gauging staff interest in redundancies.
The inevitable job cuts are a by-product of News Corp’s slowing advertising revenue, which forced the publishing giant to push its $40m cost saving strategy to staff.
In a response to News Corp’s redundancy agenda, the MEAA says it has rallied behind affected editorial staff, and had previously made an effort to ensure forced redundancies are not on the cards.
“MEAA has called on News Corp Australia to confirm that there will be no forced redundancies as part of its latest round of cost savings measures. It is particularly frustrating that the announcement of the redundancies came within hours of voting opening for a new enterprise bargaining agreement negotiated between News Corp and MEAA members over many months – with the company’s management never once indicating that further job losses and cost savings measures were imminent,” the MEAA states.
“MEAA believes that News Corp editorial staff have made enormous sacrifices in cooperative effort to improve efficiencies and productivity in the business. Far too often these sacrifices have been made with little or no recognition or recompense from management. MEAA calls on the company to provide assurances that any redundancies will be on a voluntary basis.”
The industry union also says News Corp’s decision to focus on a digitised publishing structure – coupled with the redundancy red flags – has added enormous pressure to the company’s already hard-working journalists.
“The company’s decision to pursue a more digitally-focused approach must recognise that editorial staff are working harder, over more hours, filing for multiple platforms, and are using an extraordinarily diverse set of skills in response to the digital transformation taking place in the industry,” the MEAA adds.
“News Corp has benefited greatly from these sacrifices. News Corp must accept that genuine investment in quality journalism must not trample on editorial staff who are the engine room of News Corp’s products.”
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