The management and unions of the regional daily Free lunch, headquartered in Montpellier, have agreed on a plan providing for the voluntary departure of 45 employees, including 26 journalists. The regional daily belongs to the press group The Midi Dispatchheaded by former minister Jean Michel Baylet (PRG).
“We cannot be satisfied with an agreement which endorses job cuts, even if there is relief after three months of tension”, explained the elected representative of the National Union of Journalists (SNJ) and secretary of the Committee. social and economic (CSE) of Free lunch, Guy Trubuil, a few days after this agreement reached on April 4. “We are really worried about the future: how will an editorial office function with potentially a fifth of its workforce down? “, he continued. The editorial staff currently has 130 journalists on permanent contracts.
A renegotiated text of 24 pages
“It’s an important step, because there have been a lot of internal debates and it’s finally been signed,” confirmed the editorial director, Olivier Biscaye. “Employees have until June 2 to say that they want to leave on these conditions,” he added.
In March, the SNJ, majority in Free lunch, had refused to sign the voluntary departure plan put forward by management. Which, in response, had brandished the threat of a plan “based on forced departures” which would have “primarily impacted the youngest employees”. The SNJ finally agreed to sign the renegotiated 24-page text. He declares having obtained “advances” concerning the amount of severance pay. The management would also have undertaken to study “alternative savings solutions” to forced departures if the volume of voluntary departure is not reached, underlines the union in a document addressed to employees.
Decline in total paid circulation from 96,000 to 79,000 copies in four years
The plan, initially presented on December 8 and called “Renaissance”, provides for a return to a positive result in 2024. After an expected deficit of 1.6 million euros for 2022, the title anticipates a deficit of 2.8 million euros. euros in 2023, faced with a continued erosion of revenues from broadcasting and advertising. They are down respectively by 8 million and 2 million euros over four years. Total paid circulation was 79,000 copies in June, up from 96,000 in 2018, according to the Alliance for Press and Media Figures.