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Strike at Le Monde: The Web Site Will Show "Solidarity" •
Editor's Note: Le Monde's employee unions still remain majority group
shareholders with a 23 percent stake and veto power over the choice of president,
but the crippling debt the previous management triumvirate of Jean-Marie Colombani,
Alain Minc and Edwy Plenel took on to restructure the group so
it would supposedly be immune from outside takeover, has instead virtually assured
that Le Monde's journalists no longer control their own fate. The
same trio restructured the group so that the Le Monde web site has a different
ownership structure from the paper. Although the web site's
employees are at no risk under management's plan, they are demonstrating solidarity
with their colleagues at the newspaper, as reported below.
ljt.
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Strike at Le Monde: Management On the Point of Ruining Le Monde's
Editorial Credibility
Anne-Sophie Hojlo Interviews Alain Faujas
Le Nouvel Observateur
Monday 14 April 2008
Alain Faujas is the SNJ [French National Journalists' Union] delegate
to "Le Monde."
Le Nouvel Obs: Is everyone participating in this historic strike at
Le Monde? How did the general assembly go?
Alain Faujas: Yes, it is, in fact, historic: up until now, we've gone on strike
for some two hours here and there every ten years. It's also the first time
that a business plan calls for forced departures.
I can't tell you how many strikers there are: we're not the SNCF and we don't
keep precise accounts. And it's complicated, since a journalist can come to
work and be a striker all the same: many within the editorial staff have crossed
their arms this morning.
Based on an assessment of the crowd at the general assembly, the movement's
following is strong. The crowd was the same as last week when mobilization was
very robust. The cafeteria, where the general assembly took place, was jam-packed.
It's normal that everyone be anxious to know whether his job is threatened.
Feelings are running high; people are mobilized: it was one of the most sensitive
and vigorous general assemblies I've ever seen.
What impact can the strike have? What exactly do you expect from Eric
Fottorino? Given the paper's financial situation, can forced departures really
be avoided?
We expect a real negotiation. An extraordinary company meeting is scheduled
for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Eric Fottorino will have to explain his plan in detail.
Everyone agrees a recovery plan is necessary. In eight years, Le Monde has
lost 120 million euros. The blame lies with Jean-Marie Colombani and Alain Minc,
and not the current management. But the latter is on the point of ruining our
newspaper's editorial credibility, without listening to the propositions we
have to make. Their plan would lead to a reduction in the number of journalists
by a quarter. In consequence we would be forced to create blind alleys, to go
faster, to verify less, to do more cutting and pasting from agency dispatches.
That's a real risk.
We ask that job suppressions occur on a voluntary basis and that the plan to
transfer the magazines be abandoned. It's possible to proceed to other economies
elsewhere.
In any case, we do not accept this fiscal plan as it now stands. The interunion
committee is elaborating counter-proposals. We are looking for the narrow path
between the necessity of saving the newspaper and the resolve that the employees
not have to pay the costs of that operation in a brutal manner. Without the
personnel's assent, no plan can work.
What will be the follow-up for the movement?
Right now, we make do with putting one foot in front of the other. It is important
to me to note that the movement to strike is not renewable. Afterwards, everything
is possible. The consequences will depend on management's ability to listen
and the intensity of the mobilization. t the moment, management is sticking
to its positions.
Everything will be decided Tuesday during the company meeting. We are engaged
in a power struggle with management. Will they understand the message? Everything
is negotiable. But if we obtain no satisfaction, there's the possibility the
movement may harden. And the extortion of threatening to kill the newspaper
is not going to make us fold.
Go to Original
Strike at Le Monde: The Web Site Will Show "Solidarity"
Le Nouvel Observateur
Monday 14 April 2008
Employees of the newspaper's Internet site have announced
that they will "oppose" publication of articles from the newspaper
on the site.
The employees at the internet site of "Le Monde," which belongs to
a group subsidiary, have proclaimed their "solidarity" with their
colleagues at the newspaper - on strike Monday - and "will oppose"
publication of articles from the newspaper on the site, they indicate on the
Sunday April 13 lemonde.fr.
Following the general assembly, "the personnel of Le Monde Interactif
express their solidarity with their colleagues in the group," a short text
published on the site Sunday indicates. "They will oppose publication on
lemonde.fr of articles from the Monday April 14 newspaper," it notes.
Recovery Plan
Employees of the Société éditrice du Monde (SEM) [Le Monde
Editorial Company], which edits the daily newspaper, will observe a strike on
Monday, which will lead to the non-appearance of the newspaper on Tuesday.
They are protesting a recovery plan announced by management that provides for
130 job losses at the newspaper, including 85 to 90 journalists, or a quarter
of the editorial staff.
The plan also arranges for the cession of "loss-making or non-strategic"
entities within the group's magazine division, totaling 170 jobs: Fleurus Presse
(youth press), Les Cahiers du Cinéma, Danser and the network of publishers
specialized in religious literature, La Procure.
Translation: Truthout French language editor Leslie Thatcher.
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