INL staff believe they can work with Fairfax

The union that represents newspaper workers says that it is glad the 72 titles in the INL publishing empire have gone to a publisher who cares about news.

Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union national secretary Andrew Little said today that he saw no reason for the sale of INL’s New Zealand titles to Australia’s John Fairfax Holdings to lead to job losses here.

“We are seeking an urgent meeting with INL and Fairfax to get a clearer picture of what the sale might mean,” he said. “The INL publications are already pretty lean and we do not anticipate any redundancies at this stage,” he said.

The union welcomed the fact that publications had been sold to a publisher with a long track record in the industry, rather than simply to an investor.

“We’ve seen in the past what institutional investors have done to New Zealand newspapers, and we would rather be dealing with a company that at least values the product,” Mr Little said.

“Fairfax is the publisher of some of Australia’s leading newspapers, including the Financial Review, the Sydney Morning Herald and the Melbourne Age, and we look forward to working with the company.

“It is a testament to the quality of INL newspapers and the people who produce them that they should attract such a high calibre purchaser from Australia.”

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