Union attacks Fairfax over Age and SMH plant closures

Relations between Fairfax and the union have quickly soured as it emerged almost 400 jobs will be axed when Chullora and Tullamarine close.

The media giant announced on Monday that it would move printing of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald to its regional facilities from 2014 as part of the 'Fairfax of the Future' strategic initiative.

The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) reacted angrily, telling ProPrint the workers had been betrayed in the interests of a faulty strategic plan.

National print division secretary Lorraine Cassin told ProPrint workers were "devastated".

She said they had "been led up the garden path" because the closure of Chullora and Tullamarine had been planned secretly.

However, a senior Fairfax source told ProPrint the future of Chullora had been openly discussed since last August. He added that the decision to close Tullamarine had been taken only "recently", but had been shared with staff "as soon as we possibly could".

The two printing plants have been operating at one-third capacity, according to the source. Chullora employs 200 people and Tullamarine 184, all of whom will receive "very, very generous redundancy arrangements", he added.

Cassin said the AMWU met Chullora workers yesterday and would be at Tullamarine today. The union will also attend a hearing at Fair Work Australia (FWA) tomorrow in a bid to get Fairfax to provide more information about its plans for the two sites.

Cassin said the union had been forced to turn to FWA because Fairfax could no longer be trusted and had provided no information other than Monday's media release.

She contrasted Fairfax's behaviour with News Limited, which she said had been "very transparent and open with us".

Cassin accused Fairfax of embracing a faulty strategy that placed too little emphasis on print and too much on the internet.

"Why should our members pay for this decision by losing their jobs?" she said.

"Printing is an industry in transition. It's not going to all end up digital. Print is the way of the future. You complement your business with digital, you don't wipe print out entirely."

However, the Fairfax source said the company was getting the balance between print and digital right.

"These are tough times for the industry. The digital march moves on and we're seriously trying to keep in print," he said.

"It's a difficult time for all of us, but we've been as fair and open and honest as we can in areas that are sometimes commercially sensitive."

Media pundits are on standby for an announcement out of News Limited, expected to occur today.