MEAA calls on Nine Publishing to honour its promise to freelancers

BY Nathan Jolly

October 16, 2024 3:24

MEAA calls on Nine Publishing to honour its promise to freelancers

The MEAA has called on management at Nine Publishing to negotiate a freelance agreement, as promised during the five-day strike in July.

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance wrote to Nine’s management on Wednesday, saying these discussions will mark the first direct conversations between management and freelancers in the history of The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times, and WAtoday.

“Freelancers and in-house journalists stood side by side during the five-day strike in July and this joint solidarity secured a landmark commitment from management to negotiate a freelance agreement,” said acting director of MEAA, Michelle Rae.

“Now that enterprise bargaining is out of the way, Nine must follow through on that commitment by sitting down with freelancers to negotiate pay and conditions.”

The MEAA told Mumbrella in August that the gold standard for what freelancers want is laid out in the Freelance Charter of Rights, which includes dispute resolution, transparent rates of pay, 10% super, copyright protection, and the like.

When agreeing to end the five-day action in July, Nine’s contracted staff “insisted that a commitment to negotiate minimum standards with freelancers was part of the final deal” before returning to the workplace.

Nine Publishing promised to deliver pay rises of 4%, 3.75% and 3.75% over the next three years to its full-time staff, as won as protections against AI and a diversity commitment in the newsrooms for all mastheads – but are yet to negotiate with freelance journalists.

“Media organisations in Australia increasingly rely on freelancers to provide quality journalism to their readers, yet this growing cohort of the media workforce are the most vulnerable because of job insecurity, poor pay, and the lack of basic conditions like superannuation,” Rae continued.

“As one of the largest employers of freelance journalists in Australia, Nine must provide respect and dignity to the freelancers who produce so much of the public interest journalism that readers rely on.

“Sitting down to negotiate is an important first step to ensuring the quality jobs needed to produce quality journalism.

“MEAA looks forward to forming a signed agreement with Nine publishing stipulating fair rates, annual rate increases, and other key conditions for freelance contributors.”

Mumbrella has contacted Nine for comment.