The cantons of western Switzerland support the SDA

In the daily newspaper Le Temps names the Vaudois government president Nuria Gorrite (SP) an amount of up to five million francs, as the spokeswoman of her department confirmed on request to the newspaper report. The canton of Vaud has taken the lead in the support movement for the national news agency.

According to Gorrite, SDA could become a federally funded public service company. But this would require going further than the two million francs envisaged by the Federal Council, she said.

Last October, Media Minister Doris Leuthard had announced at the presentation of the draft for the partial revision of the Radio and Television Act (RTVA), said that the SDA should be supported with two million francs from the fee pot.

With this contribution, the Federal Council wanted to ensure that the local and regional media would continue to have access to the services of the SDA in the future. This is a service for the whole of Switzerland and for all media. The partial revision, on which the consultation was recently concluded, is still the subject of a Federal Council message to parliament.

Since Leuthard's announcement, SDA has merged with the picture agency Keystone and plans are in place for the Austrian news agency APA to join SDA. It was also announced that 35 of the 150 full-time positions would be cut, which led to a strike by the editorial staff.

After negotiations with the Board of Directors failed to produce the desired result, the matter was referred to the Arbitration Board for Labor Disputes at the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). (SDA)