The editorial team of the SDA press agency
General Meeting decided, if necessary, to join forces with
Combat measures for a company collective labor agreement (CLA)
to be used. It is supported in these endeavors by the
Comedia trade union and the Impressum professional association. Criticized is
the management's project to assign the employment relationships to a new
Board of Directors, which are subject to the company regulations issued by the
replaced the expired CLA. "The editorial committee of the SDA feels
ignored by the management during the negotiations," said Urs
Thalmann, Central Secretary of Impressum, told Werbewoche. They
was consulted - in a non-binding manner - and the points of criticism were
on the general working conditions by and large heard
had been made. However, the management refuses to cooperate with the
Editorial Committee and the professional associations to achieve a mutually
to conclude a binding contract. "A CLA, at least at
company level, is important because it is much more binding than a
Regulations that were issued unilaterally," Thalmann continued.
It is feared that such regulations could be rewritten at any time.
if "the weather situation changes again". The
The planned regulations are intended to make it easier for SDA editorial staff to
Press CLA 2000, which had already been signed by the unions in August 2004.
publishers were terminated, but still applies to those journalists who
had concluded their employment contract during its term.
Thalmann does not want to communicate at the moment which combat measures
possibly be initiated. First, the trade unions want to
seek an amicable solution with the agency management. "If this
does not materialize, which we unfortunately have to assume, we will
initiate further steps," said Thalmann.
Bernard Maissen, Editor-in-Chief and Member of the Executive Board of the
SDA, cannot fully understand the accusations. "We need to find a new
regulations, as the previous and old employment contracts are still in force.
refer to the CLA 2000, which no longer exists," he explained
told Werbewoche. In terms of content, the new regulations are even
better than the old collective employment contract. The SDA wanted a regulation,
which is valid for all areas of the company, including the
employees in administration or IT. This is one of the
Reasons why Comedia and Impressum are not considered
would be included as authorized signatories: "With which should we
negotiate with? The media unions or the commercial sector?
Association?" says Maissen. The editorial committee was involved in the
formulation. Maissen therefore considers it
It is regrettable that the editorial team is now working with the trade unions against
wants to proceed. The argument that regulations are much more
more non-binding than a company CLA, he rejects. The elaborated
paper contains the passage that changes can only be made in consultation with the
staff could be installed. "I don't see why now
so much emphasis is placed on the formal conditions, because
In terms of content, the members of the editorial team have nothing to complain about",
said Maissen.
The SDA editors also rejected a new salary regulation that
the management had presented to them. It contains
Performance pay components. The editorial team is divided on this issue:
Some of the editors who took part in a vote of the
editorial committee were asked about this, a bonus system can be
if it were applied in addition to the existing salary.
A narrow majority rejects performance pay altogether. They are now waiting for the
management's further course of action on this point. "It is very
It is questionable which criteria for this incentive wage are
can be applied," says Thalmann, explaining his skepticism.
SDA editor-in-chief Maissen commented on the criticism of the salary regulations,
that, based on the feedback from the editorial committee, it was not possible to
should come into force immediately with the employee paper, but that
discussed again. A wage model with
A performance component is envisaged, as the old CEC also included forms of
salary scale, which are now being refined.
"Exactly which forms are chosen and how much of the power share in the
total salary is still unclear," says Maissen. An assessment of the
Employees would already now be able to participate in employee appraisals.
this instrument, among others, should also be used in the
The determination of the performance component of the salary.
Carole Scheidegger
