Rennes (AFP)

The Sipa Ouest-France group plans to move one of its presses from Angers to Nantes, which would lead to 23 job cuts, and reduce printing jobs in Ouest-France by 35, union officials said Thursday. National Journalists (SNJ).

"The management of Courrier de l'Ouest has announced its plan to move the rotary press from Angers to Nantes in 2024 (...). It motivates this choice by + rationalization of production costs + as part of a new industrial modernization project, while the group loses 310,000 copies per day compared to (there) ten years ", indicate the elected SNJ in a press release, condemning a project" which is a blow to employment ".

In 2018, the Sipa Ouest-France group initiated a reorganization of its editorial staff which had aroused strong opposition and has since been partially abandoned.

This new restructuring only concerns printing activities, as part of a ten-year industrial plan, according to the union.

A social and economic committee is to be held on Thursday April 29 in Angers for the Courrier de l'Ouest and a second in Rennes for Ouest-France.

Asked by AFP, the deputy managing director of the group Philippe Toulemonde indicated that he would communicate at the end of the CSE.

According to the SNJ, Journaux de Loire, a subsidiary of Sipa Ouest-France which includes Le Courrier de l'Ouest and Le Maine Libre, will be printed in Nantes in 2024 on the Angers press "with a new color group. ".

In total, "48 technical employees at Courrier de l'Ouest would be affected: 25 employees would be assigned to Nantes or Rennes, under a Ouest-France contract, and 23 employees would be affected by a departure", specifies the SNJ, which anticipates the opening of a job protection plan (PSE) on 1 September for the Courrier de l'Ouest.

In addition to the consequences on employment, the SNJ is worried about an increase in closing times, with the risk "that the hot news gradually disappears from the paper of the three titles" and also points to the "strengthening of dependence "from Journaux de Loire to the parent company.

At the group level, the workforce in the industrial sector should increase "from 256 to 176 employees by 2024, or 80 positions eliminated, including 35 in Ouest-France", continues the SNJ.

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