The editorial team decides to walk out after refusing an annual pay rise of 3 to 4 percent.
Journalists at some of Australia's biggest newspapers have gone on strike ahead of the Paris Olympics after management rejected their demands for higher pay.
Editorial staff at Nine Entertainment, which owns The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Brisbane Times and WAtoday, stopped work at 11am on Friday, hours before the opening ceremony of the 33rd Olympic Games.
In Melbourne, journalists picketed outside The Age newspaper wearing T-shirts and waving signs reading: “Don’t burn down journalism.”
The strike comes after staff voted to reject annual pay rises of between 3 and 4 percent over the next three years, arguing the offer does not keep pace with rising living costs.
“We want a CPI-aligned pay increase, a commitment to workplace diversity, safeguards around AI, and fair treatment for freelancers,” the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance said in a post on X.
Nine Entertainment, which also owns television channels Nine Network and Nine Radio, is the official broadcaster of the games and has sent around 200 staff to Paris to cover the competition.
Like other countries, Australia has seen its media landscape devastated by successive rounds of job cuts in recent years amid falling advertising revenues.
Nine Entertainment said last month it would lay off up to 200 staff, weeks after rivals News Ltd and Seven West Media announced job cuts.
