Michael Koziol explains why Fairfax went on strike

March 20th 2016

fairfax strike

“We’re on strike protesting Fairfax’s proposed job cuts – at the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and the Financial Review…To be whacked with 120 editorial job cuts – a fifth of our newsroom – without warning by an email to all staff, we were all shocked.”

Fairfax’s national political reporter Michael Koziol joined Backchat to talk about the wildcat #FairGoFairfax strike, which saw journos down their tools for five days in protest of widespread redundancies. They have since returned to work.

In a statement, Fairfax Media CEO Greg Hywood defended the cuts:

“We are operating in an ever-changing highly competitive media environment which involves rapid evolution of our publishing model. The initiatives we have proposed today are part of that adaptation and are necessary to sustain high-quality journalism.”

The sackings were the latest stoush in a long-running conflict between the company and the journalist’s union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance.

 

 

Contributor

Oscar is Backchat‘s digital producer.

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