Job cuts at SDA: editorial team demands negotiations
Following the announcement by SDA management that it would cut 13 full-time positions from the 140-member editorial staff, the outraged editorial staff held an emergency meeting in Bern. They are calling on management to begin negotiations with the editorial committee.
The editorial meeting passed a resolution without dissenting votes (49 present plus 34 representatives in favor, one abstention), which emphatically demands that no redundancies be made. According to a media communiqué, the management should enter into genuine negotiations with the editorial committee (ReKo) within ten days, otherwise the latter will be forced to prepare industrial action.
In particular, the editorial meeting is calling for the restructuring to be extended to more than the planned year in order to avoid redundancies due to staff turnover, a social plan that includes transitional payments for voluntary reductions in workload and departures, negotiations on financing early retirements from the reserves and on short-time working options, as well as full transparency regarding SDA's future offer (the already lean editorial team would be unable to deliver the current volume after this reduction). "Language solidarity", the equal service in and from all three language regions, must not be sacrificed either. This is a central function of Switzerland's only national news agency, the statement continues.
In particular, the editorial meeting is calling for the restructuring to be extended to more than the planned year in order to avoid redundancies due to staff turnover, a social plan that includes transitional payments for voluntary reductions in workload and departures, negotiations on financing early retirements from the reserves and on short-time working options, as well as full transparency regarding SDA's future offer (the already lean editorial team would be unable to deliver the current volume after this reduction). "Language solidarity", the equal service in and from all three language regions, must not be sacrificed either. This is a central function of Switzerland's only national news agency, the statement continues.
