Fairfax Media deputy CEO Brian McCarthy gestures as he reports a 47 per cent increase in net profit while announcing the full-year financial results in Sydney. -- PHOTO: AFP
SYDNEY - JOURNALISTS at Australian media group Fairfax, publisher of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, returned to work on Monday after a breakthrough on wage negotiations, the media union said.
'They all went back as they had resolved to do last Thursday,' Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance spokesman Mike Dobbie told AFP.
'They all went back together, just as they went out together.'
Journalists at Fairfax Newspapers went on a four-day strike on Thursday over 550 planned job cuts at the company and wage negotiations.
Mr Dobbie said a new wages agreement was expected to be delivered to members on Tuesday and they would have a week to review it before making a final decision.
'We've still got some way to go in terms of concluding this enterprise bargaining agreement and it will be in the hands of the members as to whether they approve that or not,' he said.
Mr Dobbie said the union was also seeking to speak to Fairfax management about the planned redundancies which the firm hopes will save it A$50 million (S$60.7 million) but which the union fears will impact quality journalism.
Fairfax said while the negotiations had been 'challenging and difficult", there would be no recriminations relating to the industrial dispute.
Fairfax last week announced a 46.8 per cent jump in net profit to A$386.9 million for 2007-2008 on the back of a strong performance from its online businesses. -- AFP
