Australian Fairfax Media workers won't be striking

SYDNEY (AAP) - No strikes are planned at Fairfax Media Ltd's flagship Sydney and Melbourne newspapers following a decision to outsource sub-editing work and axe 82 full-time jobs.
At a meeting between in-house union committees, held immediately after the announcement, it was decided that a public campaign would be continued, but no industrial action was planned.
"Neither of (the committees) are considering industrial action," Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance secretary Chris Warren told AAP on Thursday night.
"(And) there is nothing foreshadowed or expected."
Fairfax has opened the call for voluntary redundancies but has reserved the right to enforce compulsory redundancies.
"They want all the job losses to have occurred by the end of the financial year," Mr Warren said.
There will be 44 job cuts at The Sydney Morning Herald and 38 at The Age.
The publisher issued a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) on Thursday, saying the decision will lead to net annual savings of $15 million from 2012.
The announcement means the sub-editing of news, sport and business content from The Sydney Morning Herald, The Sun-Herald, The Age and The Sunday Age will be contracted to Pagemasters, a subsidiary of Australian Associated Press (AAP) from July 1.
Fairfax and News Ltd are major AAP stakeholders.
Fairfax CEO Greg Hywood said outsourcing production would help strengthen his company.
"We have every confidence that the changes we are making in the production process, along with the new management team and the clear strategy we have before us, will create a much stronger, vibrant and profitable company," he said in Fairfax's ASX statement.
But Mr Warren said the decision was "foolish" and that Fairfax workers "have resolved to continue a public campaign about the quality of the mastheads and the need to maintain that quality."
Group Managing Editor for Pagemasters Peter Atkinson told AAP: "We're pleased to be entering a new and exciting phase in our relationship with Fairfax.
"Of course, we are very aware of, and sensitive to, the impact on those directly affected by these changes."
Pagemasters has been sub-editing the flagship titles' features sections since 2008.
The company plans to invest some of its savings by appointing 10 new fully qualified reporters.
It will also appoint 12 new trainee reporters, to be split between its Melbourne and Sydney newsrooms.