Paris (AFP)
Employees of the Reuters news agency in France voted on Monday "overwhelmingly" to strike for Tuesday 17, to denounce the dismissals, according to a statement from staff representatives.
The movement aims to "denounce the methods of management, which has just informed six employees by telephone of its intention to dismiss them, six months to the day after a job-saving plan which ended in the departure of 20 people, or more than half of the French service workforce, "said the press release issued after a general meeting.
The movement runs from midnight to midnight Tuesday.
"These new redundancies, which cut the workforce of the photo service in half by France, are part of a cost reduction policy disguised as an editorial strategy which creates tangible suffering for the employees, which has led representatives staff to exercise their right of alert for psychosocial risks ", continues the text.
Staff representatives "are concerned about the damage inflicted on Reuters' reputation for excellence by an incomprehensible strategy" and wish "to draw management's attention to the disastrous consequences of brutal practices which are contrary to the legal provisions protecting employees" .
Contacted by AFP, the management of Reuters France did not follow up.
The American-Canadian group Thomson Reuters, owner of the agency, announced at the end of 2018 the loss of 3,200 jobs over two years, or about 12% of its workforce.
The reorganization affected several European offices and resulted in numerous job cuts, particularly in non-English-speaking services.
The Parisian editorial staff employed around 80 people before the departure plan.
© 2019 AFP