Tamedia to resume dialog after the demise of Le Matin Print
The Zurich-based media group Tamedia is expected to return to the negotiating table following the closure of the French-Swiss daily newspaper Le Matin. The editorial staff and the unions continue to demand a fair severance package for the laid-off employees.
"After the brutal end for the daily newspaper. Le Matin and Tamedia's unilateral withdrawal from mediation led by the Vaud and Geneva governments before the summer break, the Zurich-based publisher's editorial offices in western Switzerland, Syndicom and Impressum would like to resume a dialogue on seven key points," the Syndicom media union and the Swiss journalists' association Impressum wrote in a communiqué on Thursday. The talks are intended to provide "viable answers to the future challenges facing the press." "Calm is to return to the editorial offices, and the consequences of the discontinuation of printed Le Matin should be minimized as far as possible for those affected," is the hope.
The Tamedia management was presented with a list of seven points on which the unions and the journalists' association would like to negotiate with the publisher:. First and foremost are the suspension of the notice periods and the waiver of layoffs during the negotiations on the social plan. Social plan and additional jobs Secondly, additional jobs at the matin.ch online edition are demanded in order to "give this project a real chance." Third, the editorial staff and the unions are calling for a "fair and appropriate social plan" for the 40 employees who will be laid off after the print edition of Le Matin have been dismissed. The other demands are a two-year waiver of renewed restructuring, massive investments in the titles, the general promotion of press diversity in French-speaking Switzerland and, finally, the retention of the Collective Labor Agreement (CLA) and its application to the editorial offices that are no longer subject to it. Tamedia is now expected to provide "solid and substantial actions and answers.
No statement was initially available from the publishing house on Thursday. The Zurich-based media group had announced the discontinuation of the print edition of Le Matin announced in early June, citing 20 years of persistent losses. For a month now there has been the Le Matin now only online. The digital edition is written by a 15-person editorial team. Not affected by the cutback is the Sunday newspaper Le Matin Dimanche. The newspaper will continue to be published in printed form. Nor will any jobs be cut there. (SDA)
