Paris (AFP)

Employees of the monthly Psychologies Magazine demanded the suspension of a reorganization plan that could lead to several layoffs, in a press release sent to AFP on Wednesday.

This new workforce reduction, the second in three years, was announced to employee representatives at the end of March.

The plan presented provides for the elimination of the mock-up and iconography service, which employs seven people and whose activity would be outsourced, specify the employees.

"Of course, the economic context of the press is particularly difficult at the moment, but this cannot justify a purely accounting response", argue the employees, who fear to see their magazine "cut off from its vital forces", while it has also suffered "many unreplaced departures (...) in recent years".

And this, even though the magazine has increased its publications by increasing the number of specials, and in March launched a new quarterly dedicated to women's well-being, called "Holi".

"How tomorrow will we be able to absorb the workload with such a small workforce?", Worry the employees, who consider this project "in total contradiction with the values ​​carried for years by Psychologies in its pages" and say to themselves " shocked".

Contacted by AFP, the magazine's management confirmed the existence of "a reorganization project which concerns seven threatened positions, including three freelancers", without making any other statements at this stage, the consultation period of the CSE n 'not being completed.

Currently, the magazine has 56 permanent employees, the same source said.

Founded in 1970, the magazine saw its sales explode after its takeover in the 1990s by Jean-Louis Servan-Schreiber, focusing on themes that have become very popular such as personal development.

It was bought in 2014 by 4B Media, a Belgian consortium of which the press publisher Rossel is a part, from the Lagardère group, which took control in 2008.

Like many magazines, the monthly has seen its sales in France fall in recent years.

While they exceeded 300,000 copies on average, they fell to 176,000 last year, according to data from the Alliance for Press and Media Figures (ACPM).

© 2021 AFP