Fairfax workers back at work on Monday

(AAP) - Striking Fairfax Media journalists in Victoria and NSW will return to work on Monday morning after threats to lock staff out were withdrawn.

Staff at Fairfax mastheads including The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age walked off the job on Thursday over job cuts and pay negotiations.

The employees met with union representatives in Sydney, Melbourne, Newcastle,
Wollongong and Canberra to discuss changes to pay and conditions offered by Fairfax.
The meetings followed intense negotiations at the weekend between the journalists'
union - the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) - and Fairfax management.
MEAA spokesman Mike Dobbie said the company had threatened legal action and to lock
out employees on Monday morning unless union members agreed to accept the company's
revised enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) offer at Sunday's meetings.
"They have all resolved, as they did back on Thursday, to return to work tomorrow,
commencing at first shift Monday morning," Mr Dobbie told AAP.
"We await to see the formal offer for an EBA."
Mr Dobbie said the company withdrew its threats to lock out members and to sue the
union and individuals for damages arising from the strike action.
Fairfax Media chief executive David Kirk did not deny the threats had been made.
"It is true to say we reserved all our rights legally and, while no final decisions
have been taken, we would clearly have acted in what we thought were in the best
interests of the mastheads and of the business as the situation evolved," he told
AAP.
Locking out staff was part of a range of plans the company considered, he said,
because the illegal "wildcat" strike placed Fairfax in a difficult position.
Mr Kirk said members at the meetings had voted to accept the proposed EBA, which
would need to be formalised by a full vote of members during the week, but Mr Dobbie
denied any agreement had been reached.
"There were no votes taken for anything because there is no formal offer from the
company," Mr Dobbie said.
"We are awaiting a formal offer from the company in writing that we can put to the
members for their consideration."
He said it was unlawful for the union to put anything to members.
The three-day strike action followed the announcement last week that Fairfax would
slash 550 jobs, in Australia and New Zealand, saving the company $50 million.
The cuts will include 165 editorial jobs across the two countries.
Staff walked off the job at The Sydney Morning Herald, the Illawarra Mercury, the
Newcastle Herald, The Age and Fairfax's Sunday publications, the Sun-Herald and
Sunday Age.
The dispute drew the concern of Federal Workplace Relations Minister Julia Gillard.
"I am someone who is concerned about the quality and diversity of our media market,"
Ms Gillard told Network Ten.
The first high-profile victim of the 550 job cuts came on Wednesday when Age editor
Andrew Jaspan was sacked after four years at the paper's helm.
Fairfax also sacked columnist Mike Carlton from the Sydney Morning Herald on Friday,
after he refused to cross the picket line to write his weekly column for the
Herald's Saturday edition.
Fairfax, which merged with Rural Press in 2007, recorded a net profit of $386.9
million for 2007-08, up from $263.51 million the previous year.