Stuff's Auckland newsroom and (inset) Stuff owner and chief executive Sinead Boucher. Main photo / NZME
More than 140 unionised Stuff journalists are striking today, accusing the company of “hypocrisy” over what they describe as “insulting” pay offers, after the firm took “a secret payday from selling a share of the business to Trade Me”.
In return, Stuff has accused the E tū union of “deliberate untruths”, denied there was any “secret payday”, and said staff have received market-aligned pay rises since Covid.
The journalists are walking off the job between 3pm and 5pm, with pickets outside newsrooms in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, and Christchurch.
About 30 journalists striked outside the company’s Auckland newsroom, chanting and holding placards, including ‘Sinead got Stuff. We got stuffed’.
Staff then walked up to Western Park, on Ponsonby Rd. Chants included “When workers’ rights are under attack…stand up, fight back.”
“We will not be pushed over by Sinead Boucher,” said union delegate David Long, adding they were dedicated journalists who deserved fair pay rises.
Media Insider has previously revealed that staff have sought an overall pay increase of 6.5%. One source has also outlined what they called a “hardline” attempt by the company to split the collective contract into separate agreements (Masthead Publishing and Stuff Digital).
Stuff Digital operates stuff.co.nz and Masthead Publishing looks after the company’s digital subscription websites and newspapers.
E tū union delegate Tom Hunt said in a statement today that the company was showing contempt for its staff.
“Stuff journalists have taken hit after hit to get [owner and chief executive] Sinead Boucher’s company through hard times. We accepted no increases during Covid and effectively nothing last year, because we believed the company when it told us times were tough.
“To now be offered an insulting pay rise, and to see the company trying to split us into different collective agreements, is disgraceful. It shows they plan to keep screwing us for years to come.
“This is from a company that boasts about being a wonderful corporate citizen, all while our owner takes a secret payday from selling a share of the business to Trade Me. The hypocrisy is staggering.”
A Stuff spokesperson said: “While we do not comment on our ongoing negotiations with E tū due to good faith and confidentiality commitments, we have plans in place to ensure our audiences and commercial partners remain unaffected”.
“The statement from E tū contains a number of deliberate untruths,” they told the Herald.
“Since Covid we have given our staff pay rises every year which are in line with the market, there has been no ‘secret payday’ and no one has been ‘screwed’.
“It is disappointing to see two journalists mischaracterise the issues in this manner.”
In the same E tū statement, another delegate, Sapeer Mayron, said the strike was about “years of being undervalued”.
“Stuff has shown its employees over and over again that it thinks we are replaceable and not worth investing in with decent wages and working conditions. And yet we stay, because we believe in the work and care about the communities we report in.
“But after years of miserly increases, with our pay going backwards in real terms – some years with no increases at all – we simply can’t afford to keep working here unless Stuff pays us properly. That means more than CPI [the Consumers Price Index, a measure of inflation], to catch up on all those years of falling behind.
“Going on strike today comes after months of asking this company to live up to its reputation in Aotearoa’s eyes and in the eyes of its staff, each of whom become more disillusioned every day as our leaders deny us the decent wages and conditions we deserve.”
Editor-at-Large Shayne Currie is one of New Zealand’s most experienced senior journalists and media leaders. He has held executive and senior editorial roles at NZME including Managing Editor, NZ Herald Editor and Herald on Sunday Editor and has a small shareholding in NZME.
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