Severance payment to the staff of ddp/AP
Negotiations with the owners of the former AP Associated Press Switzerland—now ddp/dapd—which lasted more than two weeks, have resulted in an agreement. After five rounds of negotiations, the two parties agreed on a severance package of 4.5 months' salary.
The 20 dismissed permanent and regular freelance editorial staff who sign the agreement will be released from their duties from Monday. This was announced by the Comedia trade union on Thursday evening. However, it only affects employees in German-speaking Switzerland - journalists in French-speaking Switzerland are still on permanent contracts, Comedia Central Secretary Stephanie Vonarburg told SDA. As the Comedia and Impressum unions wrote on Friday, the plan was to communicate this result on Sunday so as not to jeopardize the agreements. Confirmation is now being given early because it has already been made public in advance.
Last December, AP Switzerland was sold to the agency ddp Deutscher
Depeschendienst was sold. As a result, the news agencies SDA and ddp announced their cooperation in the Swiss market. The AP bureau, now ddp Switzerland, which has existed since 1981, will become the ddp correspondents' bureau. SDA will not be taking on any of the existing ddp staff, as it has to cut jobs itself, writes SDA. For the journalists, this meant that they were made redundant on the same day, according to a statement from the trade unions. The German employer's action, which lacks any social responsibility, is neither economically comprehensible nor acceptable in terms of media policy, it continues. The fact that the SDA had offered its hand to boot out its only competitor continues to leave a stale aftertaste.
Last December, AP Switzerland was sold to the agency ddp Deutscher
Depeschendienst was sold. As a result, the news agencies SDA and ddp announced their cooperation in the Swiss market. The AP bureau, now ddp Switzerland, which has existed since 1981, will become the ddp correspondents' bureau. SDA will not be taking on any of the existing ddp staff, as it has to cut jobs itself, writes SDA. For the journalists, this meant that they were made redundant on the same day, according to a statement from the trade unions. The German employer's action, which lacks any social responsibility, is neither economically comprehensible nor acceptable in terms of media policy, it continues. The fact that the SDA had offered its hand to boot out its only competitor continues to leave a stale aftertaste.
