Striking journalists say Fairfax Media management are picking up million-dollar bonuses and potentially cashing in share options while slashing 125 editorial jobs.
Staff on Thursday picketed outside the The Age in Melbourne and a hotel in Sydney where Fairfax chief executive Greg Hywood laid out his vision for the company.
He promised to keep the newspapers going even as the newsrooms continued their seven-day strike over $30 million in job cuts at The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Financial Review.
"This is not the first time we have had industrial opposition to what we are doing," Mr Hywood said in a presentation to investors on Thursday.
"We won't be dissuaded from making the right decisions, and we will get our digital and print editions out through this period."
Fairfax, in an internal note, said the redundancy program was expected to result in "significantly fewer editorial management, video, presentation and section writer roles".
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance spokesman Adam Portelli said Mr Hywood got a $2.5 million bonus this year, which he said was equivalent to 16 full time jobs.
The Age business courts reporter Sarah Danckert said staff suggestions about cutting contributors, agencies and bonuses were ignored.
"Their response to our request that they forego, not just Greg Hywood foregoes a bonus, but all the senior management who get bonuses, the response was "not relevant"," she said on the picket line.
"We told them that was a bit of an insulting response."
Staff also said Mr Hywood and two other senior executives have share options worth a potential $30 million - and the share price has gone up since they announced the job losses.
National video news editor Simon Morris said the company has told staff they can do quality journalism with fewer people.
"Understandably, we're rather sceptical about that," Mr Morris told AAP in Sydney.
"Nobody disputes that we're in a structural crisis. The reason people are out here today is that what is at stake is quality journalism, public interest journalism."
Sydney Morning Herald transport reporter Matt O'Sullivan said staff were "incredibly disappointed" about the decision to sack a quarter of its journalistic workforce.
The strike could continue until Tuesday, when the federal government will hand down a budget - potentially without Fairfax reporters to scrutinise it.
