Paris (AFP)
Several unions and the society of journalists (SDJ) of the Express protested Tuesday against the announcement of a plan for the elimination of positions in the weekly, recently taken over by the boss of Altice France Alain Weill, and him call for commitments to preserve the editorial independence of the magazine.
In a statement, the Inter Union CFDT-CGT, the National Union of Journalists and the SDJ Express indicate that the employees of the weekly, meeting this Tuesday in General Assembly, rejected a plan for safeguarding employment presented Monday by their direction.
This PES, if implemented, would lead to "26 new job cuts (...) within the editorial department", denounce these organizations. If they would be compensated in part by recruitment in the teams in charge of digital editions, they would add to the departure of 58 journalists (including 40 CDI) who decided to leave the Express after the takeover of Alain Weill, in making use of the clause of assignment (starting device in case of change of shareholder of a newspaper).
"In total, with the arrival of Mr. Weill, the only team in the magazine goes from 84 posts to? 46," say the unions and the LDS, denouncing "an unprecedented bleeding" for the newsmagazine.
In addition, the PES provides for the transfer within the Altice group (former owner of the weekly) or the elimination of 40 "transverse" positions in non-editorial services (administration, marketing ...). This will melt the total workforce of the weekly 102 employees, against 172 before the arrival at the controls of Mr. Weill, specify these organizations.
"We will not save the newspaper by depriving it of all the means essential to its development," warn organizations.
In addition, the unions and the SDJ are asking the new boss of the Express to take over an "editorial independence agreement", which the previous shareholder, Altice, had signed in 2015, and which was to apply until in 2025.
This text "protects the drafting of any external interference, regardless of its shareholder", recall these organizations, who are concerned that three months after the purchase of the Express, Alain Weill has not yet signed.
Alain Weill, CEO of Altice France (parent company of SFR and many media), bought this summer a majority stake in the capital of the Express, of which Altice remains the minority shareholder.
Announced in February, this takeover must allow according to Mr. Weill to implement an ambitious "transformation project", aimed at stopping its very heavy losses, thanks to a redesign of the editorial and commercial positioning, accompanied by a change of its day of publication.
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