Unions take Network Ten to Fair Work Australia

Friday, 02 November 2012

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance and the CPSU have sought assistance from Fair Work Australia today following a move by Network Ten to forcibly make staff in the Brisbane newsroom redundant. The unions have been in talks with network management following the announcement on October 17 it would shed 116 jobs from newsrooms around the country.

During that time we have sought further detail around what the restructures will mean for journalists around the country, and what the move to a more nationalised bulletin structure will mean for local coverage of community events.

Assistance has now been sought from Fair Work Australia as we do not believe that Network Ten has met its obligations to provide information to affected staff members facing the axe, or the measures the company has put in place to mitigate the effects those planned redundancies have on journalists and technicians.

“Ten have been unable to provide answers to the most basic questions about numbers of voluntary and forced redundancies, and what the newsrooms will look like in the future. They are treating staff with contempt,” said Alliance federal secretary, Christopher Warren.

The Alliance wants to ensure Network Ten staff have adequate information available to them in order to fully consider their employment options and their futures in the media industry.

Community and Public Sector Union president Michael Tull said that it was clear from the outset that Network Ten had failed in its obligations to its employees to consult with them about the redundancies. “They really failed to provide a genuine opportunity for employees through their representatives to consult about ways to mitigate the impact of the redundancies and, as such, they are in breach of their union-negotiated agreement.”

“Network Ten had a responsibility and they have failed in that. They have been pushing tight time frames to complete this redundancy program and yet they’ve not been forthcoming with information. We have had the barest minimum of detail. And yet even before next week’s meeting to discuss the numbers of redundancies we are hearing reports that staff are being tapped on the shoulder and asked to leave. That’s not a way to conduct consultations. That is not the way to treat your staff and we take that kind of treatment very seriously.”

For more information contact Karol Foyle (the Alliance) on 0411 757 690 or contact Julian Lee (CPSU) 0409 493 290.