Australian media company Fairfax Media Ltd. (FXJ.AU) said Thursday it will cut about 82 editorial production jobs from its two main Sydney and Melbourne newspapers as part of an efficiency drive aimed at saving A$15 million (US$16 million) a year.

The company, which publishes The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review, said in a statement it will move forward with its production efficiency plans after more than a week of staff consultation.

The 82 full-time editorial production jobs, or sub-editing positions, that will be removed will come from The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, it said.

A spokesman said the redundancies were expected to be completed by June 30.

"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," Chief Executive Greg Hywood said.

Last week, Fairfax said it planned to outsource sub-editing jobs to production company Pagemasters, a division of Australian Associated Press, which is partly owned by Fairfax and News Corp. (NWS.AU), which owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of this newswire and The Wall Street Journal.

Australia's journalists' union, the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said in a statement Fairfax had rejected compromise proposals from staff that "would have saved jobs and positioned the company for full integration across multiple news platforms."

The union said staff would meet in Sydney and Melbourne Thursday afternoon to "consider their next move."

-By Gavin Lower, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9292-2095; gavin.lower@dowjones.com

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