Have you heard anything about News Ltd offering redundancies to staff over 55 years of age
with figures of eight weeks pay for each year’s service mentioned? It was
mentioned to me by a colleague but I have no other information.

With Fairfax CEO David Kirk and Chairman Ron Walker
mouthing assurances at the company’s AGM that quality journalism won’t be
compromised by redundancies, journalists at The Age are preparing to vote with
their feet. The recent expressions of interest period for redundancies
has seen more than 90 journalists asking for estimates of their payout figures.
The rush was so overwhelming that The Age‘s overstretched human resources
department has had to extend the deadline for formal requests for redundancies by
two weeks to process the requests. Those considering climbing into the
lifeboats and abandoning the sinking Fairfax empire include some of The Age’s
best-known names as well as a surprisingly large number of younger reporters,
who see no future at the paper. It’s expected that management will easily
exceed its redundancy quota of about 25 Age journalists, with more than 30
likely to lodge applications by the December 2 closing date.