Nine boss Mike Sneesby runs with the Olympic torch as journalists vote to go on strike

Nine boss Mike Sneesby has been pictured carrying the Olympic torch through the streets of a town outside Paris just hours after staff at the company’s publishing division voted to go on strike over a pay dispute amid swingeing job cuts.

On Monday, staff at the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Australian Financial Review, WA Today and The Brisbane Times voted to strike for five days from this Friday, coinciding with the opening weekend of the Olympics.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) said the decision came amid an impasse in current enterprise bargaining negotiations with the union pushing for a bigger pay rise than the 2.5 per cent offered.

They are also demanding a diversity pay audit, quotas and protection against the use of AI, the SMH reported.

The Daily Telegraph reports the strike will begin on Friday at 11am and last till the following Wednesday, throwing the company’s cross-platform Olympics coverage into disarray.

Nine Entertainment is the official broadcaster of the 2024 Games.

The MEAA told the outlet journalists assigned to cover the Olympics were among those set to walk off the job.

“Members’ anger is white hot that the job cuts will fall disproportionately upon the publishing division, which is profitable and productive,” a spokesperson said.

On Monday, Nine CEO Mike Sneesby was pictured in The Australian running through a small French town just outside of Paris with the Olympic torch in hand.

The images are likely to further sour relations between management and staff at the embattled company with the vote on industrial action coming just weeks after it was announced that about 200 jobs would be cut across the company.

“From our nationwide team of almost 5000 people, around 200 jobs are expected to be affected across Nine including some vacant and casual roles not being filled,” Sneesby said in an email to staff last month.

This would include 70 to 90 publishing roles, it later emerged.

Within days, union members at the company’s mastheads had passed a motion of no confidence against Sneesby and the Nine board over the job cuts.

“This motion was passed due to a lack of progress in the current enterprise bargaining agreement negotiations and because of the job cuts that have been announced,” the MEAA said.

Also on Monday, AFR editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury announced he would step down after 13 years in the role.

The latest turbulence follows a torrid few months for the embattled media company.

The departure of its news chief Darren Wick in March prompted an outpouring of allegations of inappropriate behaviour, sparking an internal review.

Then, last month, Nine chairman, the former federal treasurer Peter Costello was involved in an altercation with a journalist from The Australian that led to him resigning a few days later.