Printers of the Basler Zeitung accept severance pay
The dispute over the severance plan for the printers at the *Basler Zeitung* has been resolved. At a staff meeting, the employees affected by the layoffs accepted a severance package offered by the management of *Basler Zeitung Medien* (BZM).
According to the agreement, all employees affected by the closure of the newspaper printing plant will receive a severance payment of 400 Swiss francs per year of service, as Hans-Peter Graf of the Syndicom trade union said in response to a query from the SDA news agency. The dispute over severance pay had led to a warning strike on Monday night. According to Graf, the works meeting approved management's offer with a strong majority. As an alternative, management had also proposed severance pay only for those laid off over 50, which would have varied according to age. According to Graf, this variant had no chance.
Originally 1'000 francs demanded
Originally, the employee side had demanded a severance payment of 1'000 francs per year of service in the negotiations on the social plan. From the union's point of view, the 400 francs now accepted are too little, which is why Syndicom suggested, according to Central Secretary Graf, that the Basel government be called in as a mediator. Syndicom is convinced that more could have been achieved in this way. However, the works meeting decided against this proposal. A spokesman for the Basler Zeitung Medien did not want to say what the 400-franc solution would now cost the company, but it would be a "considerable sum". For the spokesman, the conflict will not be definitively settled until the social plan has been signed.
Still in Basel until the end of March
Due to the dispute over the social plan, the printers of the Basler Zeitung had gone on strike for seven hours starting at 11 p.m. on Sunday. The Basler Zeitung was subsequently printed by Tamedia in Zurich (Werbewoche.ch reported). A partial run of the Coop newspaper was also affected by the strike. According to the BZM spokesman, the Basler Zeitung will now be printed in Basel as planned until the printing plant closes at the end of March. After that, printing will take place at Tamedia. The printing plant in Basel is being shut down for reasons of profitability. This affects 96 employees. Of these, 72 will be laid off. (SDA)
